Dealings with covid-19 vaccination

By Shodunke Opeyemi David

Should I call it rumour or noise spreading across the world that AstraZeneca is fake, people saying that the vaccine is the virus and all that, a whole lot of different stories, but then, what did I think about it personally? 

Hmm, if you ask me, I would say that let me tell you my story about twenty-four hours before vaccination and forty-eight hours after vaccination. Perhaps, you might figure out an answer for yourself and get convinced either to take the vaccine or not.

NIGERIA GET DELIVERY OF ASTRAZENECA COVID VACCINE

On Tuesday, March two 2021, Nigeria received 3.92 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine developed by the University of Oxford and AstraZeneca. It is the first shipment for the over 16 million doses allocated to the country through the COVAX Facility, aimed at vaccinating 20% of the population.

Nigeria is expected to receive an additional 42 million doses of approved vaccines through the African Union’s African Vaccine Acquisition Task Team, but details on the timeline of shipments are not yet clear.

Dozens of Nigerian officials, wearing yellow high-visibility jackets and facemasks, met the flight delivering the vaccines on the airport tarmac in Abuja.

The government expected to receive 84 million doses of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine from COVAX this year, enough to inoculate 20% of the population.

The first doses were administered at a treatment centre of National Hospital Abuja the following Friday, and the nationwide vaccine rollout commenced on March 12.

LAGOS GETS DELIVERY OF VACCINE

In Lagos, after receiving over 500,000 doses of the AstraZeneca jab, and despite concerns in some countries over the safety of the vaccine, Commissioner for Health in the State, Akin Abayomi said that authorities had spent a long time looking over the data and concluded that there was "no reason for the State to slow down its COVID-19 vaccination response.

Abayomi, who later received the first jab of the COVID-19 vaccine in Lagos, said the vaccine’s benefits continue to outweigh its risks, and the communication from World Health Organisation and relevant government agencies gives us the confidence to proceed with vaccination to prevent a third wave of the pandemic.

Speaking at the venue of the Flag-off ceremony,  the Executive Governor of Lagos State, Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu, who also received the AstraZeneca vaccine urged Nigerians to disregard rumours and misinformation making the rounds about the vaccine as he puts it.

OGA AT THE TOP VACCINATED

In fact, my immediate boss, Mrs Adeola Akindele got a Jab of the vaccine. hmm, everyone at the office was excited as she shared the news at the office, but definitely, everyone was curious I guess especially me about the outcome, how she would feel later on.

Oh my goodness, the following day, guess what happened? she did not come to the office? Did she felt sick? what exactly happened? well, none of the above! Smiles.  

You know what, she came to the office very hungry which is very usual, she ate like five times that day. You know, reacting to this, we asked "Ma'am, how are you feeling?" she said "this vaccine is just making me eat o" I am feeling very well, but I just feel like eating, probably the vaccination unleashed the hunger part of me, smiles.

Well, that did not continue for long though because it was Friday and the weekend is close, but by Monday, all was well.

THE BREAKING NEWS IN LAGOS (Over the weekend, the news broke)

Eighty-eight centres were approved across Lagos while eligible citizens who fit into Phase one of the vaccination exercise were urged to pre-register online for the vaccine at www.nphcdaict.com.ng or www.vaccination.gov.ng before proceeding to any of the vaccination sites for a quick and seamless process.

MY LIFE IN 24 HOURS

I fall within the category of Front line workers. I am a Journalist. So I had to decide if I should take the vaccine or not.

Personally, I do say that "Tough decisions are hard to make, but the best to make" is one of my favourite personal developed quotes. So, I stood by it and decided to go for vaccination on Monday, March twenty-two 2021.

Now, this is my story twenty-four hours before vaccination.

On Sunday, March twenty-one 2021, I resume work by 4 pm which will last till 9:15 pm, yeah! I completed my work that evening at work, but I stayed overnight at the office because I would also work the following day by 4 pm, so I have morning hours to myself.

After work on Sunday, I went online, got the address of the closest centre to the office, I found one, which is Oregun Health Care Centre. I was also on Twitter to ask questions basically on if I have to eat before vaccination or not. Good people of Nigeria responded by saying I should eat, it is always advisable to.

My mind never for once skipped the fact that I would be vaccinated the following morning. Well, I was not scared at all, not even close to that. I was very comfortable, but I couldn't sleep till the next morning, why did that happen exactly? I seriously don't know. but trust, I maximised that time, I continued the book I was reading which is "Great Leaders Ask Good Questions by John Maxwell" interesting book I must say.

I, also within that time frame(midnight) to create some content for my clients, yeah! I am also a social media manager.

MY SIDELINE JOB

Please, let me advertise myself.

"Are you tired or do not have time to handle your social media platforms or website? for your business or personal?

But truly, you do not find rest of mind leaving your business accounts or website inactive? hmm, I am your best bet.

Contact me on my number 08101951177. Cheers😀

MY LIFE IN 24 HOURS CONTINUES

Fine, around 6 am I was feeling sleepy, so I went to bed, but by 7:45 am, the cleaners were around to clean the premises, so I had to excuse them. Before then, around 3 am I had my bath.

In no time I was ready, set out to the restaurant to have my breakfast then to the vaccination centre. I had rice and plantain and a whole lot of water.

I walked down to the centre because it is not that far away from my office ( about 3.7 kilometres while driving( 9minutes drive and 28 minutes walk).

CURIOSITY AT THE HOSPITAL

On getting to Oregun Health Care Centre, what did I see?

A bit of Traffic gridlock, and a whole lot of people at the gate. I was like ''oh my goodness'', I came late already, this was around 9:23 am. Well, no shaking, "even if there are a lot of people here, it will get to my turn before 4 pm", I said in my mind.

I moved closer to the gate of Oregun Health Care Centre, then I asked the man who manned the gate, what is the procedure?

He said people from 70 years old and above were being attended to. Curiosity wanted to finish me again. I then said I am a Front line worker, I tendered my ID card, he then said oh, you are qualified for the first batch, please come inside.

Thank you, I said thereafter.

To be sincere, at first, I thought everyone at the gate came to receive the vaccine, but No.

Some came to look, while some came to disturb the peaceful vaccination process, and of course, some came to use power, meanwhile, they are not Frontline workers. Well, I saw some foreigners, mere looking at them, they are Indians also at the gate.

Most of them were not qualified, but they kept coming.

Kudos to the Police and some other officers who tried to control the crowd, most especially one crazy guy who kept shouting that "there's no Coronavirus, see me, I did not die all this while" This guy was ready to destroy the whole place, but thanks to God.

Yeah, I was given a number (50) because I met people on the seat, while some are already being vaccinated.

THE JOURNALISM SPIRIT INSIDE ME IGNITES

During the waiting period, I decided to do my Journalistic work 👊😀. I asked for permission from the people in charge, and I was given the go-ahead, but not to go beyond a certain area... So I approached a few people who were walking out, knowing fully well that they have been vaccinated.

I asked them about their experiences.

Below are the responses.

Micheal (Over 70)

"Because I am over seventy, I was let in freely without any hindrance, i feel very well, and i think so far so good, the organisation has been reasonable and good. i think if they continue like this, we should certainly encourage them''.

Akinola Osinyemi (72 years)

''It is a simple process, the queueing processing is very simple, but you know Nigeria factor, everybody is so much in a  hurry, but they are highly organised, and once you get there, you get the jab, just like an ordinary injection, it does not harm''.

Roda Ojo

''The process was fine, but there were a lot of people, but at least they attended to us'' I don't even know that i collected anything, although i was scared when i wanted to collect the vaccine injection, it is over twenty-minute now i collected it. so i will advise people to come to collect the vaccine, God will heal us all''.

Teacher

''It is easier, and everything is ok. there is nothing to be scared about, it is very easy, and it is convenient. I don't see any side effects.

VACCINATION TIME

I was called and asked to fill a form with my name, date of birth, age, address, email address and phone number. Again, I was curious and decided to ask questions from the nurse.

I said I already pre-register online and here's the code I got.

She said, please fill the form, I don't need that one, I have to re-register you and put your details on the green card.

Ok, fine, I filled the form, submitted and it took about 5 to 10 minutes to complete the process.

I was vaccinated oooo, hallelujah! 😀

The nurse told me that if I feel any fever, I should take paracetamol and more liquid content, water. ok.

I jugged back to the office, met a few of my colleagues outside on getting back to the office, I told them I have received the vaccine. I took a picture with the card and showed them.

CHEERS TO THE SUCCESSFUL COLLECTION OF AstraZeneca

Hmm, the reaction from one of them, most especially Mr Puis, lol. that man, ehn. hin matter tire me. He was very local in his comment. Away from that, please. 😀

So I went into my office, the excitement was high as they saw the green card.

Cheers everywhere, I must say. That's how I turned to AstraZeneca vaccination recommender and explainer.

So basically, I had to explain to more and more people around my office environment about my experience and where I was vaccinated.

REACTIONS ONLINE

So I posted on my WhatsApp status.

"Vaccinated" with an emoji of injection and green Mark.

Oh my goodness, 🙆🏼‍♀️ why did I post?

The message kept rolling in o. A lot of questions, condemnation and some commendation.

#ENDSARS: BLOOD, POWER, COURAGE AND SACRIFICE

#ENDSARS: BLOOD, POWER, COURAGE AND SACRIFICE

Image Sourced Online (lekki toll gate slaughter)

By Momodu Precious 

If history could leave the abstract space and spread through our sky like rainbow do after rain, Nigeria would have been a hotspot for photographers all over the world to capture the awestricken colours that painted her sky during the last quarter of the year 2020.

It all started like a child's play when Naira Marley and Runtown first promised to hit the streets of Lagos to protest against the excess of the security outfit, Special Anti-Robbery Squad, popularly known as SARS. That was not the first time Nigerians would call for the end of this agency, but all previous agitations were made on social media. Though the citizens never brought themselves to the front door of the government's office to protest in their previous agitations, their online expression is audible enough for any reasonable government to put in place all necessary means to eradicate police brutality. But when the bane persists for years, the potential victims, mostly the youths, decided to take the notch a bit higher by organising a peaceful protest to gain the attention of their elected candidates in political power. But for days of raging protest, the president of Nigeria failed to address the country.

When the government would finally take action towards the demands of her citizens, the Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, announced the dismantle of SARS and the creation of a new subset christened SWAT.

This in no way pacify the agitators. In fact, it infuriated them the more. "Is the government implying that they have no right to demand an end to an unwanted policy?", "Is the presidency implying that it made them Nigerians to contradict their beliefs that they made the presidency what it is?" or "The government is insinuating that they are too insignificant to make demands in the country they contribute their existence to?"

These are some of the many questions that roamed the minds of these protesters and for this sake, they steered the wheels of their agitation towards the direction that will not only see an end towards police brutality but also put an end to the century old poor governance that dragged their country from its destined post as one of the most developed countries in the world to one of the poorest economy there is, despite it's enormous human and natural resources.

Image sourced online (Agitated youths)

Seeing from the angle of an expert, the ant of these youth truly carried a roasted plantain instead of the grain of rice that is about its size, especially when all the weapon they had was a peaceful protest that could only attract attention.

Though, the government denied their involvement in the hurdles that faced the protesters afterwards, all the questions of who and why in a criminal case points directly to the elected politicians as the number one suspect that could and would initiate such.

The first difficulty that the protesters faced was the hired thugs that attacked them with machete. But when the many finally decide to take charge of their life from the few, hired thugs is too small to scare them off. The next strategy that was put in place to silence the protesters was a bribe, but surprisingly, they refused that too and stood steadfast to their demands. 

When mufti thugs and money could not silence the youths, the last resort to repel them is fear. On October 10, 2020, the Nigerian army drove to Lekki toll gate to "maintain law and order" where peaceful protesters were expressing their demands to the government. 

At the protest ground, video evidence captured the military men shooting at the protesters. Also, live videos showed protesters ejecting bullets from the wounded victims. This was a live bullet that leaves blood behind its trail. But come the morning, Lagos state Governor, Babajide Sanwoolu, said truly there was a shooting but "nobody died". Then different contradicting reports came from the government authorities that should be held accountable for the occured incidents.

A wishy-washy judicial panel was quickly initiated to investigate the case. But for those who were alive to witness what happened to the outspoken artiste, Fela Anikulapo Kuti, in 1979 when 1000 "unknown" soldiers laid siege to his house and the murder case of the radical journalist, Dele Giwa, that remained an unsolved mystery till date, would know the end result of the supposed men of honor that constitutes this hastly made judicial panel.

One of the facts that corroborate this stance was the panels' recommendation to reopen Lekki toll gate before the end of their investigation. The ripple effect of this decision saw to the arrest and public humiliation of Debo Adedayo, popularly known as Mr Macaroni, on the 14th of February 2021.

Though the purpose of the protest was not reached, the memory of #ENDSARS will definitely leave a beautiful scar in the minds of average Nigerians. 

While narrating the experience of the protest, one of the pop star that was on the front line, David Adeleke (Davido), expressed that, “It was crazy and emotional, but also a proud moment for me because I didn’t go there as Davido, I went there as a young Nigerian to march with my people on the streets of Abuja. It was all about letting our voices be heard and getting the Inspector General of Police’s attention, as well as the Speaker of the House of Representatives, the lower chambers of the Nigerian parliament and other people in government.”

Without a doubt, the youths made certain that their voices were heard in their demand for a better nation. If no positive outcome is derived from the protest, it is in no way their failure. It is the negligence and incapability of the elected public servants to provide a safe haven for the country they promised to serve.