A\nneuroscientist, Dr. Chidi Njemanze, says majority of Nigerians have developed\nstrong immunity against COVID-19 and might not need the Pfizer\/BioNTech and\nModerna vaccines expected in the country by the end of the month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Speaking\nwith PUNCH HealthWise, the renowned medical researcher in neurocardiology said\nthe drug Ivermectin (Mectizan), used to treat River Blindness (onchocerciasis),\nand which most Nigerians have consumed at some point, has stimulated their\nimmune system to resist parasites and viruses of the RNA group, to which\nCOVID-19 belongs. \u201cThey want to make Nigerians who already have immunity to\ncoronavirus to take a vaccine that might not work on them. \u201cIvermectin was\ndistributed across the country, and, coincidentally, it stimulates the immune\nsystem to resist parasites and viruses of the RNA group<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMany\nNigerians have taken this drug, and, invariably, are resistant to COVID-19. The\nimmune system is already primed to resist the virus,\u201d Njemanze deposed.\nAccording to an Assistant Researcher, Prof. Carlos Chaccour, in a report\npublished by the Barcelona Institute for Global Health, Ivermectin, an\nanti-parasitic drug developed in the 1970s, had proven to inhibit the\nreplication of several RNA, including SARS-CoV-2<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Chaccour,\nhowever, said there is equipoise on it, a term used in bioethics to define a\nsituation in which there is reasonable doubt of whether a drug might be of use\nor not.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In a\nstudy led by the Monash Biomedicine Discovery Institute in Australia, which was\npublished on April 3, 2020 in ScienceDaily, Ivermectin was noted to have killed\nCOVID-19 virus within 48 hours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The\nscientific team found that a single dose of the drug could stop the SARS-CoV-2\nvirus growing in cell culture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe\nnext steps are to determine the correct human dosage \u2014 ensuring the doses shown\nto effectively treat the virus in vitro are safe for humans,\u201d the researchers\nstated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Further\nspeaking on the expected vaccines, Njemanze said procuring them would be\nwasteful, adding that spending N124bn on a virus that has continued to mutate\ninto more variants, when the national health budget is N46bn, doesn\u2019t show\nstrategic planning. \u201cThis particular strategy of procuring a vaccine, which is\nbeing developed abroad and is being adopted by the Nigerian authority, is not\napplicable here and is wrong. \u201cThe amount earmarked for the vaccine is 10 times\nour national budget. This is outside the infrastructure that you need to store\nand administer it,\u201d the neuroscientist said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He\nfurther noted that the vaccine will not serve any purpose, especially now that\na new variant, which is being imported into the country, is in circulation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He\nsaid, \u201cWhen you have a disease process that is caused by a virus that keeps\nmutating into other variants after a while, the strategy usually is to use\ndrugs that will reduce the viral load.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis\nis so that if the virus is severe and an individual gets infected, it will not\nbring the person down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhen\nviral load is reduced, the immune system can now produce immune cells that will\ndefend it from the virus. That is the usual strategy when treating any disease.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe\ndisadvantage of rushing to use a vaccine is that it will be specific to a\nvariant. If, say, you have \u2018Variant A\u2019 and you produce a vaccine, it will be\nvery active for only that one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIf\nand when \u2018Variant B\u2019 emerges tomorrow, it will not be sensitive to that\nvaccine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cSo,\nfor Nigeria to go and spend so much on one vaccine and tomorrow, another\nCOVID-19 vaccine is developed for another variant, and maybe the first one was\n90 per cent sensitive, when variant B comes, it will only be 30 or 40 per cent\nsensitive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cDo\nthey intend to get another budget to buy a new vaccine for the new variant?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt\nis total stupidity for any developing country to be spending scarce resources\nto buy a vaccine for coronavirus”. Njemanze also warned that inoculating\nNigerians with the vaccines might worsen the disease process, adding \u201cThere is\nwhat is called pathogenic priming.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cGetting\nthe vaccine and then getting infected can make it worse. That\u2019s a phenomenon we\ncall pathogenic priming or antibody dependent enhancement. \u201cIt can happen here.\nAnd because this is not all understood, trying to buy into it doesn\u2019t make sense.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The\nNeuroscientist, however, said the Federal Government might justify buying a\nlimited quantity for healthcare workers at the frontline as a form of\nprotection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMaybe\n10,000 or 15,000 vials for some health professionals who are at the forefront of\nwaging war against the disease, especially those that they want to post to\nisolation centres,\u201d he added. The physician described COVID-19 as a relatively\nmild disease in terms of modalities and effects, noting that Nigeria had\nexperienced worse disease outbreaks and had survived with less mortality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhat\ndid the Federal Government do for Lassa fever and Ebola virus? Did they get any\neffective vaccine?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt\nseems to me that decisions are being made by politicians who have no idea about\nwhat medicine is all about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAs\nit stands now, politicians are the ones making these decisions and analysing\nsolutions,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Njemanze\nalso warned that lockdown of the country because of the second wave will be\ncounterproductive, as the percentage of infections recorded so far doesn\u2019t\nwarrant such measures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He\nsaid, \u201cThey are talking about lockdown in a country where disease prevalence is\n0.000044 per cent of the population. So what is the justification? The entire\nstrategy is a nonstarter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe\nFederal Government should be guided by our needs in this clime and not what is\nbeing monitored on global news stations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe\nare jettisoning primary things that we are supposed to do; things like getting\nadequate personal protective equipment and gloves for healthcare workers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cGovernment\ncouldn\u2019t even do that. So, what other thinking are they going to come up with\nthat will logically solve the problem?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhen\nyou lock down Nigeria, you are actually clustering people, especially with our\nextended family system, where almost six to seven people live in a room due to\npoverty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWithout\nlockdown, these people will be at their workplace, where they also sleep\noccasionally. So, you are actually separating people when they are working.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cConversely,\nlockdown, which translates to clustering, will help to further spread the\nvirus. This is not the same abroad because those places are a little bit\ndifferent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cTheir\nhomes are usually two to three rooms apartments, and they could be two to three\npeople in the family, and can actually remain separated if they so desire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cLockdown\nmeasure is not applicable in Nigeria, because we don\u2019t have the same social\nstructure and system.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Njemaze\nmaintained that America, Britain and other foreign countries have zero\nexperience in terms of dealing with infectious disease, and wondered why\nAfrican countries are taking cues from them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhy\nare they teaching you what they have never seen before? Have they dealt with\nEbola, Lassa fever and malaria outbreak before?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAre\nwe going to impose lockdown for Lassa fever, malaria and Ebola virus outbreak?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYou\nare talking to people who have no idea and who should be asking us what to do.\nWe deal with these diseases on a daily basis and have more serious diseases\nthan coronavirus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe\ndon\u2019t need these measures because we already have public health distribution\ndrugs that will reduce the viral load of coronavirus and the RNA viruses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAll\nthe antimalarial medications and quinines we use can reduce the RNA viral load.\nAnd the public is already taking these drugs. We have the therapeutic, so we\nalready have inherent system protection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe\nvaccines will not improve any survivability because we have already survived\nthe virus.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On\nwhat scientific measures could be adapted to effectively contain the second\nwave of COVID-19, Njemanze said the second wave was an international one, and\nthat Nigeria is only getting a transfer of transported cases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He,\nhowever, applauded the Federal Government\u2019s effort at containing the new wave,\nadding, \u201cThey are doing well, especially by ensuring that returnees to the\ncountry are taking COVID-19 tests and policing the border. \u201cThat is the correct\nthing to do because we are having transported cases. We don\u2019t have an inherent\ncommunity spread of the second wave.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cEven\nif one or two variants are discovered in the country, they are still\ntransported cases because they can be traced to someone that just returned to\nthe country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThere\nis really no need to change our strategy towards control of the virus. The\nstrategy on ground, without the vaccine, is superb. We are doing well with it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Copyright PUNCH<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A neuroscientist, Dr. Chidi Njemanze, says majority of Nigerians have developed strong immunity against COVID-19 and might not need the Pfizer\/BioNTech and Moderna vaccines expected in the country by the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":136542,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[19494,19841,4630,335],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.citypeopleonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/update2.jpg?fit=1080%2C540&ssl=1","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":150406,"url":"https:\/\/www.citypeopleonline.com\/10-drugs-nigerians-are-buying-to-fight-covid-19\/","url_meta":{"origin":150065,"position":0},"title":"10 Drugs Nigerians Are Buying To Fight COVID-19","author":"Wale Lawal","date":"January 25, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to spread across the world, killing thousands and bringing economies to their knees, doctors, scientists and governments are on the lookout for safe and effective treatments to help those who are sick. 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