Abstract

COVID-19 VACCINE COMPETENCE FOR NIGERIAN ENVIRONMENT

M. O. Nwokike*, S. I. Ghasi, E. C. Ogbuagu and M. N. Ezenwaeze

Abstract

Vaccines played tremendous role in the treatment and subsequent eradication of once deadly infectious diseases. They are currently at the fore of the regimen for maintenance and optimization of health in our disease infested world. Vaccines work with the body’s natural defences to develop immunity to disease. As long as the natural antibodies to existing disease conditions exist in any physiological system, it will be able to intercept and prevent the virulence of such infecting agents. The current practice of relying mainly on vaccines to contain the infection of coronaviruses during the flu season is maintained with less than convincing proof of reasonableness. This is because the nature of coronaviruses seems to suggest that they are not as vaccine preventable as diseases like polio and rickettsiae. They tend to have rapid conformational changes, which make them not capable of being contained by a specific form of vaccine for a long time, and a lot of funds are spent producing vaccines for different variants in flu seasons. Baring the cost of vaccine production, it is quite unlikely that the world can hold onto the coronavirus and prevent it from further variations while competent vaccines are produced for existing forms. It also seems unrealistic to embark on the production and inoculation of everyone with new vaccines for all strains of a universal virus. When viable vaccines can be produced for all forms of the coronavirus, then their transmission from person to person can be stopped. If this herd immunity is achieved, the virus will over time not exist in isolation and will gradually be eliminated. This is the hope for the Covid-19 vaccines and vaccine candidates, but it continues to look like a mirage. The vaccine contents may not have full disclosure and they come with side effects which may be compounded by the frequency of inoculation to achieve year round protection; in which case disease treatment and other means of prevention of transmission may hold better prospects for humanity.

Keywords: Covid-19, Vaccine-Specificity, Malnutrition, Content, Hesitancy, Nigeria.