COVID-19 Booster Done & Dusted – What About You?

I had my booster dose today, to wrap up the year, after first and second doses of Astra-Zeneca on 23^rd March and 21^st June respectively at the Nigeria Army Reference Hospital Yaba, Lagos.

The booster was Pfizer and according to the officials, the vaccine vial contains six doses so we had to wait a while to make up the 6 persons needed to take the booster so that none is wasted. There were persons, who also came for their first and second doses of vaccines today, but they were not even many, and it buttresses the fact that in spite of the publicity, pleas and threats from several levels of governments and the private sector, there are still millions of Nigerians yet to be vaccinated. It is strange that people have to be begged to be vaccinated when it is for their own good. Of course many of our people still feel that COVID-19 is a scam and non-existent. The conspiracy theories of 5G, Antichrist and microchip implantation for Africans to be controlled by big business and the West have hardened the resolve of many people to be vaccinated.

My nephew said he was coming to visit for Christmas and I asked if he was vaccinated. His excuse will surprise you – he said he prefers the American vaccine because he does not trust the one available here in Nigeria, as if Nigeria manufactures vaccine or he himself was in a position to make some!

He concluded that God is the one protecting all of us. Don’t ask me if I told him to come. The issue is still a subject of discussion.

The regular question of, ‘why do people who have been vaccinated still die’ points to the misunderstanding of the work of vaccines in the body. What is clear is that the vaccine is not a cure for COVID-19 or any of its variants like Delta and Omicron. Vaccines obviously help to boost immunity against the virus.

As Gavi, The Vaccine Alliance, has repeatedly explained, “No vaccine is 100% effective. Even the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine – one of the most powerful disease prevention tools we have – is only 96% effective against measles after two doses, while the seasonal flu vaccine is only 45% effective. Still, it is estimated to prevent 130,000 flu deaths in the US alone each year”.

COVID-19 vaccines can and do protect the majority of people from hospitalisation and death, which is why many doses need to be administered in Nigeria, as in other parts of the world as rapidly, and equitably, as possible. With large numbers of people being vaccinated, and as almost all COVID-19 restrictions are lifted in some countries, it is inevitable that a small proportion of fully vaccinated individuals will become infected. An even smaller proportion will become seriously ill and die. What is important is that the risk of a serious outcome is vastly lower for those who have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19, compared to those who have received no vaccine doses at all.

I am sure that many people around us may have been exposed to coronavirus and showed malaria and flu-like symptoms like cough, catarrh and headaches in the last few months but they have not been tested and have surmounted what they had, mainly because they were double-vaccinated or did not have serious underlying diseases like diabetes, BP and others. Such people are also likely to take it for granted that they were treating the regular malaria and flu-like illnesses.

As UNICEF has said, new variants like Omicron are a reminder that the COVID-19 pandemic is far from over. “It is therefore essential that people get the vaccine when available to them and continue to follow existing advice on preventing the spread of the virus, including physical distancing, wearing masks, regular hand-washing and keeping indoor areas well ventilated. It is also crucial that vaccines and other public health measures are accessible everywhere. Vaccine inequity leaves lower income countries – many of them in Africa – at the mercy of COVID-19. Well-supplied countries must urgently deliver the doses they promised”, says UNICEF.

So as not to take things for granted, it is also necessary to know what you can and cannot do when or if you have been vaccinated, in terms of travel, gatherings and work.

Until herd immunity is achieved, vaccinated people, even with boosters, like me, should expect to still navigate some complicated decision-making and properly assess the risks of whatever they do. This is because COVID-19 vaccines and boosters do not mean a full return to the normal of no masks, no more distancing, safe indoor parties, big hugs and handshakes with friends.

The reality is more complicated. Those of us who have taken the shots must realize we are co-existing in a world with the unvaccinated at work, home and in the community.

We will all still be with masks, achieve distancing, hand washing, sanitizing and continue to take precautions, as long as unvaccinated members of the public are uncooperative with the protocols. But there is no doubt that the fully vaccinated are safer and more confident about themselves. Evidence suggests that vaccinated people are potentially less likely to transmit the virus through asymptomatic infections, but there are also outstanding questions on the duration of the vaccines’ protection and the effect of emerging variants; hence the need for boosters which may be taken from time to time.

Most experts agree that until we are closer to herd immunity when a substantial majority of the population is protected through vaccination or natural infection, mask wearing, social distancing and avoiding crowded, indoor gatherings should be standard practice in public spaces.

Epa Ogie Eboigbe, veteran journalist, broadcaster and public affairs specialist, writes on, and analyses current and historical issues with a ‘wise pen’.