COVID-19 vaccines: It’s good to get advice from medical professionals

IT is now three days after I got my Sinopharm vaccine. I haven’t as yet experienced any side effects and it is the same with my staff. We all got vaccinated at the clinic for free and so far so good. This is a well-co-ordinated and organised exercise that for sure the Health and Child Care ministry should be applauded for undertaking. The uptake among the medical professionals is just amazing. No deaths yet from those who took the vaccines as anticipated by the cynics.

The world continues to tremble from COVID-19 morbidity and mortality with more than 112 million people having been infected already and at least 2 495 million people having lost their lives.

The virus has been a global menace and it seems far from over as there seems to be no congruency on the medical management, including the issue of vaccines.

Pandemics have always brought misery to the people if history is to be looked at with the 1957/58 Asian flu being an example.

An American microbiologist, Maurice Hilleman saw the need to make a vaccine in May 1957 and within four months, the vaccine was already in use.

That was then in 1957 when there was no much advanced technology.

The outbreak was brought to a halt and it was the same in 1968/69 when the world was hit with another pandemic, the Hong Kong flu.

Again vaccines were made to suppress the Influenza A H3N2.

Health order was brought to the world.

We are in 2021 and the whole world is in quandary because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Many pharmaceutical companies have been working flat out to make drugs that include vaccines.

Both messenger RNA and vector vaccines have been made. Vector vaccines include Sinopharm, Sinovac, Astrazeneca, Sputnik V while Pfizer and Moderna are both messenger vaccines.

Zimbabwe is one of the few countries in Africa that has commenced COVID-19 vaccination after receiving the first batch of the vaccines from China.

There was so much skepticism and criticism with some citizens arguing that people were going to be at risk of getting more infections from the vaccines themselves.

I think it is important that people appreciate the types of vaccines that we are making use of in our country. There are so many prophets who are now at the forefront of discouraging citizens from taking the available COVID-19 vaccines. I am not sure if they have medical arguments to defend themselves as the issue of vaccines is purely a public health issue that ought to be handled by medical professionals.

Pharmaceutical companies can make use of either attenuated or inactivated viruses when making vaccines.

Attenuated viruses are weakened viruses which are still able to replicate and for all this time, people have been receiving these vaccines to counter measles, rubella, mumps, rotavirus while inactivated virus vaccines include rabies, hepatitis, polio.

People should note that inactivated viruses are killed viruses that never replicate but can induce an immune response.

Sinopharm vaccine is not made of live attenuated virus but there is an inactivated virus that does not replicate but can of course induce an immune response.

North Africa seems to be ahead in terms of vaccination with Morocco, Egypt and Algeria having rolled the programme more than a month ago.

In Africa, Sinopharm vaccine is now being used in Zimbabwe, Senegal, Seychelles, Egypt, Morocco, Egypt and none of these countries have recorded fulminant results from the vaccine.

Although there are about 73 possible side effects from the SinoPharm vaccine, people should realise that it is world standard for drug manufacturers to list all the possible side effects when releasing a drug.

The Sinopharm vaccine was approved for mass administration on January 4 2021 by the Chinese Food and Drug Administration after achieving a 79% efficacy rate. Although the vaccine was in phase three trial by then, it is my belief that phase 1 and 2 are the most important phases of drug development.

Phase 1 trials seek to evaluate safety of the drug, determine safe doses and identify side effects while phase 2 trials test drug effectiveness and further evaluate safety.

Phase 3 trials work to confirm effectiveness, monitor side effects and collect vital information.

It is thus imperative that correct information be availed to people so that they make informed decisions about accepting or rejecting the vaccination.

For pandemics to be weeded out, the population should develop herd immunity to a specific disease and usually at least 70% of the population should be vaccinated.

Vaccinating only 10% of the population will not yield the expected results as that will not give enough protection to the population.

We need co-operation from everyone if such pandemics are to be won easily. Conspiracy theories, fear and misinformation are not good factors if public health is to be successful. It is wise to acquire information from the medical professionals to avoid confusion and disinformation.

Surfing on the internet does not provide proper information because medicine is a complex field that needs integration of a lot of information.

THOSE of us who saw the massive outpour of love at the burial of Zimdancehall giant, Soul Jah Love on Saturday, by mostly ghetto youths have every reason to be worried — to panic even.

It is a ticking time bomb — we have an accident waiting to happen.

Do we ever imagine what these youths are doing, every day, when they are not mourning Sauro?

School, work, university? None of the above.

Soul Jah Love was mourned deeply by his own template of Zimbabwean youths — them denied, them defiant, them against the odds.

The highly spiritual and prophetic artiste took his message all the way to the cemetery.

When we were young, burial places were sacred.

The destruction and desecration of many tombsites at Warren Hills Cemetery in Harare during the burial of the Ndini Uya Uya singer was symbolic, telling us what lies ahead of our dying nation.

We have a generational liability ahead of us.

While our “leaders” — (politicians rather!) — are focusing on winning the 2023 elections for their personal interests, our collective national future is being desecrated and damaged.

The smartest, most opportunistic deals were to capitalise on the embattled musician’s huge capital — while it lasted — this was done brutally.

As Soul Jah Love’s human remains decompose in the south west of the capital city, our own national decay marches in sync.

Former Harare mayor (2008-2013) Muchadeyi Masunda has called out business leaders to come out and help with a national solution.

The silence of the rich and elites in national matters is a recipe for disaster.

Crime will not particularly target Epworth, Mabvuku or Mbare — there is not much to steal there!

Sauro’s burial was not just a send-off, but a sermon.