Paranoia against vaccines and vaccination expressed in the seemingly rational form of arguments that seem well thought out and up to par with every logical test designed in the philosophy of science to test the quest for truth is not a novel appearance on the global scene.
Understandably, vaccination hesitancy is as old as the introduction of vaccines. Still, perhaps one of the most brutal blows and the spark that sent the coals on fire was the publication of a paper by the now-discredited Andrew Wakefield, who, as a doctor, published an article claiming that vaccination causes autism in children in 1998. Since then, everyone with a stake in the global health community (you and me) has never been negatively affected.
With Wakefield’s paper, it seemed that an arrow had struck the Achilles heel of vaccination efforts around the world. People generally became bolder with their hesitations which was already building up right from when the concept of vaccination was discovered. Several groups sprung up worldwide to lobby against or outrightly resist vaccination programs personally in their families and across different strata in their societies. Their position has served not to inform but to misinform the general public about vaccines, leading to widespread fear, paranoia and Panic.
Contrary to popular belief, even some health professionals do not wholeheartedly believe in the efficacy or safety of vaccines to reverse the rising tide of infectious and non-communicable diseases like cervical cancer. Little wonder, during this covid-19 pandemic which has turned the world on its head, vicious opinions of many scientists calling the vaccines that have been developed against covid-19 unsafe for humans have been heard. But what do I think of them? I believe history will remember them like Andrew Wakefield.
In my opinion, most of the current fears people have of presenting themselves for their covid-19 vaccination shots are borne out of ignorance and partly due to the ill-timed and poorly calculated strategies of most governments in managing this epidemic. Many power-hungry governments worldwide have ridden on the back of this virus to further suppress the populations they govern by trying to instil fear and milk every political advantage they can from their citizens. You need to remember that science is a tool that humankind has to push the frontiers of our existence, secure our lives, and ensure our survival. Scientists do not always have a say in how the fruits of their hard labour would be received by the world or even how it would be used.
However, one thing we can celebrate is the speed with which the vaccines were developed in the middle of a global pandemic. This would never have been the case if not for the accumulated work of many scientists over many decades. Coronaviruses are not entirely new, as pointed out many times before, so scientists already knew how to respond to them and develop a vaccine. An example is that when most virologists went to school before the 1980s, they were taught that retroviruses were harmless viruses that didn’t cause harm to humans. Still, some virologists continued studying these viruses nevertheless and accumulated a lot of knowledge about their function. When the HIV pandemic began in 1981, it was identified as a retrovirus. Those scientists who spent time studying such viruses quickly recommended taking a specific enzyme called protease, which introduced the first HIV antiretroviral therapy, saved millions of lives and reversed the epidemic trend. The Covid-19 vaccine development is somewhat like that.
Finally, as we interact with humans, other animals, plants and surfaces, we come across billions of microbes that could potentially cause harm to us. Today covid-19 is of grave concern to us. To break the chain of transmission between ourselves, we have to make sure that the virus is not capable of reproducing to a level capable of spreading to another human in our bodies. One sure way of doing that today without waiting to get sick is to present yourself at a vaccination centre, roll up your sleeves and take a jab for humanity. In that way, you become a superhero that has saved not just your life, but the life of a father, mother, son, daughter-those people you commute with as you go about your business. Please choose to be humanity’s next hero!!!
