COVID-19: No cause for alarm over vaccine side effects – virologists say

A professor of virology, Prof. Oyewale Tomori, said the country had nothing to fear about the usage of the AstraZeneca vaccine.

Tomori, who spoke with the Punch on Thursday, said there was no need to compare Nigeria with the countries that had temporarily suspended the usage of the vaccine.

He stated, “Those countries temporarily suspended the usage of the vaccine, they are investigating. So, as a precautionary measure they suspended the usage.

“How many side effects have we recorded in Nigeria? We are talking of millions of people vaccinated in those countries. Nothing is clear about it yet.

“On the temporary stop in some European countries, I have no comments for now till investigations have been completed. The countries are only taking a precautionary measure till the investigation is complete,” Tomori said.

Also, a medical virologist at Adeleke University, Ede, Osun State, Dr Oladipo Kolawole, said there was nothing to worry about.

He said, “I think there is nothing to worry about, as long as the appropriate agencies and regulatory agencies are in touch with those who have been vaccinated to monitor the response.”

A former Nigerian lawmaker, Senator Dino Melaye, said the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine imported by the Federal Government through the COVAX facility was the least potent of the four vaccines approved by the World Health Organisation.

In a video posted on Youtube by online TV, Roots, Melaye said the Nigerian government did not put the people into consideration before going for the AstraZeneca vaccine.

He said, “There are four notable vaccines, the least potent of these four is the one Nigerian government imported. This same one imported by the Nigerian government has four side effects.