It is jab and go

Come on over

For the past month, I have been pestered by messages and alerts to go for my seasonal COVID-19 vaccine as the health authorities have considered there is a strain of concern about, a spike in infections leading to hospitalisations, and the danger it poses to those in a vulnerable cohort.

When I took my last booster in June, I left it well over a month from the first notification before I relented. I suppose the other issue is since the autumn of last year, there have been no nearby locations or walk-in centres to obtain the vaccine or booster.

Outskirts for jabs

The nearest locations are at least 2 kilometres and over a mile and a half away. It could easily be walked, though in finding those locations, it might be best to use public transport and then walk back home.

Why they have decided to move all the vaccination locations out of the city centre, I cannot understand, and this activity is no more at GP surgeries or dedicated facilities, but at chemists and pharmacies where it seems spare and probably medically unqualified hands are assigned the more onerous duty of registration with the rather trivial act of jabbing you in the arm.

Following the advice

What I have also found out is less people in the vulnerable cohort are keen on the booster, I have been advised by many unqualified people to shun the booster, but I will only act on sound medical advice. I was chatting to someone about it the other day and they volunteered that the booster knocked them out for almost a week.

In my case, I have tolerated the vaccine quite well, I was pleased that the sterling work by Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman that went into creating the mRNA-type vaccine put out by Pfizer and Moderna was awarded the 2023 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.

Commending the science

On the counts, I have now had 2 main vaccines and 5 boosters, all mainly Pfizer-BioNTech or Pfizer, except the fourth which was the Moderna vaccine. Just over a day and a half of pain in the area of the injection, a little discomfort but no need for an analgesic.

What has surprised me is we are no longer required to wait around for about 15 minutes to gauge the patient’s reaction to the vaccine. You are jabbed and you leave, complications inadvertently handed off to the emergency services. It did not bother me; I took the time to walk back home through strange alleyways and backstreets.

Manchester keeps giving up new secrets about places, people, and buildings. 10 years here and still there is quite a lot to see. 

Another booster on good advice

Walk-in somewhere far away

I had been receiving a notification for over a month that I should consider getting the Spring COVID-19 booster as I am understood to have a weakened immune system.

For the previous boosters, I have just had to walk up to the offices beside the Central Library, hardly 5 minutes away to get my jab. However, on receiving the notice, I found there were no walk-in vaccine centres in the city centre, the nearest was just over one and half miles away.

Besides the option to walk-in, these centres only had specific days of the week that they offered the jab, most of them somewhat inconvenient besides the fact that you probably want to get it over with than wait until the weekend. The whole concept of walking-in which one would think allows for an unscheduled and impromptu visit was somewhat defeated because the freedom to attend was curtailed by the restricted scheduling to see patients.

Get out there and get it

I was prompted to do something when at the weekend, I received a letter, and this was quite apart from the many SMS text messages that had been ringing on my mobile phone. The last day for receiving the Spring booster was the 30^th of June after which one will have to wait until the autumn season.

It could have been ignored, but every once in a while, I hear of someone contracting COVID with a varied spectrum of severity of symptoms. If the number of people who tested positive in the week including the 3^rd of June is 4,331 and deaths for the week including the 22^nd of May is 231, according to the government website. COVID remains a threat, even if it is not in the news and well-considered precautions remain sensible and necessary. In my region, for the recorded period, there have been an increase in deaths by 5 to 33 and hospital admissions down 29 to 277.

I take advice seriously

I use medical consultancy services and follow the advice I am given by my doctors after my concerns have been addressed and my questions answered. They know we all have access to reams of Internet information from which genuine or absurd inquiry might arise and I take into full consideration much of the information necessary to achieve the best patient outcomes for myself.

I have stuck with the mRNA vaccines which are the Pfizer and Moderna products and so far, I have had 2 main Pfizer jabs, then a Pfizer booster, a Moderna booster, and the last 2 were the Pfizer booster with modifications for COVID variants, it is now 6 injections since February 2021. Some might advice you do not need the booster, but they are not experts in the field, just people informed by sentiment or misinformation.

It was about a 40-munite walk to the chemist this morning, I stated my intent, and I was seen to after 10 minutes, the jab was from such a tiny hypodermic needle, you hardly felt it. As long as I was feeling fine, I did not have to wait the regulatory 15 minutes for observation.

Keep with the experts

What I find bizarre is the number of conspiracy theorists who are against vaccination regimes not out of producing data that meets the test of scientific and informed rigour, much as their arguments seem persuasive, I would rather listen to scientists, vaccinologists, or epidemiologists speak than people with political or social media platforms without the essential tutelage of expertise and knowledge.

It is just absurd to pitch an influencer against an expert in a field for purpose of debate on an area of specialisation that is certified beyond enthusiastic dilettantism. Yet, this is what we see nowadays, and I present the tweet I posted earlier today for your reflection.

The absurdity of having an expert debate a conspiracy theorist is so totally exemplified in this cartoon where a random passenger in flight says, "These smug pilots have lost touch with regular passengers like us. Who thinks I should fly the plane?"
Like seriously? Hands raised? pic.twitter.com/bDqtEwRNyN

— Akin Akíntáyọ̀ 🏳️‍🌈 #European (@forakin) June 19, 2023

More fuel to the Pfizer

Pricks and nicks

Two things have been on my mind for the past month or so, both related to my health for which I needed to plan for and have done before the prospect of a rendezvous with my partner in December. My typically biannual check-up which usually occurs in mid-April and mid-October had landed this time in the last week of October and so the next appointment six months after.

Then, having taken my second COVID jab on May the 6^th, I had been looking to book my booster shot anytime around the 6^th of November. In fact, I had been looking for a slot since the middle of October, though the initial indications suggested at least 6 months and a week after the second jab. Then on Saturday, I found out that from Monday you could find a slot online to get the booster shot.

Running with runs

I was of the mind that I had told everyone, yet it just happened that in the fog of apparently letting everyone know, I had inadvertently not told Brian. You can trust I was going to get an earful for that. On Monday, I did get a slot for after work on Wednesday, today, none of the locations anywhere nearby that I decided to go to the Manchester Tennis and Football Centre by the Manchester City Football Club Etihad campus – that was going to be an Uber ride.

Meanwhile, yesterday, I had a bout of diarrhoea that left me visiting the toilet 10 times around bedtime over some 2 hours. Whilst it appeared to subside in the morning but persist through the day, I had hoped Imodium instants would help as I contemplated postponing my booster shot appointment.

In the end, I took precautions for the inadvertent flows and made for the vaccination venue where I was ushered in to first sanitise my hands and don a new face mask provided by the venue and I proceeded to the registration desk where my booking was retrieved, and a few COVID-related questions were asked.

Just some assurance

Then on to a second registration desk where more questions were asked about allergies, conditions, current medication, participation in recent trials and how I was feeling. On being told I had the runs since yesterday, the nurse sought advice from the location pharmacist who could not be located for probably 10 minutes, at which point they got me a chair to sit down.

The pharmacist came and said as long I was not feeling unwell or running a temperature, the diarrhoea should have no particular consequence. However, with that knowledge, it was left to me to decide if I wanted to go ahead with the booster shot. I felt it would be fine and then I was ushered into the queue for the Pfizer BioNTech Comirnaty vaccine.

Boost your immunity

Much banter ensued between us, the nurse who asked my name and I offered to give a list of 24, the need to take off my long-sleeved shirt that they brought over a screen lest my nudity and corset be exposed to the public and we were done before I was to sit in a waiting area for 15 minutes ere my journey home. Brian called and it was then I realised he had not been informed and my ear was pulled for longer than I could endure.

He felt I should have allowed recovery from the diarrhoea before going for the shot and whilst it is sensible, the medical opinion made allowances and having taken the jab, what mattered was keeping hydrated, taking some rest and probably an analgesic as my body got back together again. I did not want to add fuel to the fire on the whys and wherefore, I had just taken on fuel to my Pfizer. I’ll be fine.

Some thoughts on the vaccines

I am feeling good

Two days after taking my second Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine, the only discomfort I have had is a pain in my arm where I took the shot. Whilst I did take a painkiller yesterday, I do not think there is any need for one today, the pain will subside, and things should be fine.

Then, I have heard from friends who took the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine, all their reports suggest that for at least a couple of days, they almost feel like death, terrible headaches, feverishness, and sweats.

Fears and cheers

It is a bit concerning that some people are not returning for their second shots and that is news from the United States of America where it is the Pfizer / BioNTech and the Moderna vaccine are the more widely dispensed and the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine is yet to approved there. [National Geographic: Why we shouldn't panic about the millions who missed their second vaccine dose—yet]

With such first experiences and side effects, some who took the Oxford AstraZeneca might be reticent about returning for the second and reliving their ordeal. The reading is whilst the side effects are serious for the first dose, on the second dose, there have rarely been serious side effects afterwards. [British Heart Foundation: Getting your second Covid-19 vaccine]

It takes two shots

It still remains if we decide to take the vaccine, we should follow the full dosage to be fully vaccinated. Despite the reports of debilitating side effects which are statistical rarities and I know I have written about statistical versus personal realities of experiencing side effects, the preponderance of evidence makes taking vaccinations a safer bet over no protection or contracting COVID-19.

Blog - Opinion: Between statistical and personal side effects

Blog - Rather the vaccine than COVID-19

Obviously, the AstraZeneca product has not had the best of the press, who can receive it is being reviewed constantly as we learn more of how people are affected by it, but on balance it is part of the arsenal against this Coronavirus.

Getting to go on

I did not take it and was ready to exercise the option not to if offered because I am a frequent traveller to South Africa where the vaccine apparently offers minimal protection against the prevalent variant there. [British Heart Foundation: Covid variants: latest on the Indian, Brazilian, UK and South African variants]

Even the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine still being studied for efficacy, is apparently 100% effective against symptomatic COVID-19 disease. All the vaccines worked on for boosters to tackle the other variants. My beau has had his two Sinopharm vaccine shots in Zimbabwe, after a bit of hesitancy. [Xinhua: Feature: Chinese vaccines rollout gains steam in Zimbabwe]

We need to unlock the world and get going, the vaccines are part of the newer world order. Let’s go.

Nigeria: Pfizer reaches settlement

A settlement agreed

Following one’s comments on this matter, it behoves one to present an update on developing circumstances.

On the 26^th of February 2009, the newswires [1] announced that under the negotiating auspices of General Yakubu Gowon (Rtd.) [2] who was the leader of Nigeria from 1966 to 1975 and former President Jimmy Carter [3]; the Kano State government in Northern Nigeria and Pfizer - the pharmaceutical conglomerate have in principle reached an out-of-court settlement.

This settlement which would be fully negotiated in March 2009 does not at the moment confer blame, admission or culpability but pursuant to the $2.75 billion compensation claim on behalf of 11 dead children and 189 other affected children, this settlement would close the criminal and civil cases brought against Pfizer.

The courts still sit

Much as Pfizer has protested its drug trial of trovafloxacin (Trovan) [4] conducted during a major outbreak of measles, cholera and meningitis “conformed to ethical practices and was carried out with the consent of the Nigerian government”, the cases against Pfizer which have been in the courts since 2001 [5] have had resilience [6] that it must now be a public relations nightmare for the company.

However, the woes of Pfizer have not ended because this settlement is quite different from another suit brought by the Federal Government of Nigeria for the compensatory sum of $6.5 million.

My hope for the victims

Obviously, once this settlement is completed, it is my hope that this money be put in trust for the 200 victims and their guardians for the improvement of their lives and one also hopes that the involvement of the Kano State government is for ethical, altruistic and compassionate reasons.

Knowing that the victims are rural folk, there is the danger that decisions might be made for their lives and livelihood that does not reflect the full compensation won on their behalf and it would be atrocious if administrative costs are exacted from the same claim when it appears from Pfizer’s perspective the government was culpable in the drug trial by offering consent on behalf of the people who probably did not know they were being used in unconscionable experiments.

In all, if the good names of Mr Gowon and Mr Carter are involved in this deal, their job would only be complete if the sense of justice and fairness catapults these wronged people out of their circumstances onto a trajectory of life-changing experiences.

This matter would be watched closely to see where it ends.

Sources

[1] AFP: Pfizer settles multi-billion dollar Nigerian case

[2] Yakubu Gowon - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[3] Jimmy Carter - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[4] Trovafloxacin - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[5] Kano trovafloxacin trial litigation - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[6] Suits Saying Pfizer Experimented on Nigerian Children Are Revived - washingtonpost.com

Earlier blogs on this issue

Nigeria: Pfizer, we are NOT lab rats [Originally on akin.blog-city.com] – February 2009

The Pfizer Drug Trial [Originally on akin.blog-city.com] – May 2007

Humantarian Pfizer fed Nigerian kids poison drug - allegedly [Originally on akin.blog-city.com] – May 2007

Nigeria: Pfizer, we are NOT lab rats

In favour of redress

Recently, a higher court in the United States of America ruled in favour of Nigerians [1] having their case tried in the States rather than in Nigeria where an alleged offence had been committed.

This case has been to the courts so many times and yet for all the legal wrangling, justice is nowhere in sight.

The background to the story is already well known – in 1996, there was an outbreak [2] of measles, cholera and meningitis in Northern Nigeria; Pfizer the pharmaceutical conglomerate magnanimously offered to help the government by providing drugs to deal with the problem.

Somewhere along the line, it appears, as they say, they came to some agreement with the government to conduct a drug trial [3] with an experimental treatment which had not been allowed elsewhere and this apparently lead to blindness, deaths, deformities and other kinds of problems for the children who might have been administered the drugs.

Maybe so, for Pfizer

Pfizer contends that its drugs had nothing to do with the problems and that it was a case of an inadvertent coincidence that their drugs were administered just when the disease had already taken its toll – that is plausible, but it is subject to debate, sub judice and somehow this case still has merit for the plaintiffs and before the judges which is why it is still in the courts.

I would not enter into the legal arguments that surround this case but there is much to be said for the situation as it stood then.

Without moral rectitude

First of all, Pfizer erred in their moral obligations by taking advantage of a critical health situation to promote an untested drug with the hope that it would produce results that would have gone on to earn the company clout, competitive advantage, kudos and untold profits but also could have been quietly shut down since it was in an African backwater.

Even though Pfizer contends that the government was informed of the drug trial and they might have assumed the people were well intimated of the trial and the consequences, they failed in their ethical responsibility to engage the parents to the extent that they would have understood if it were better to take well known treatments for meningitis rather than give up their children for experimental license.

In a country where the health situation is dire, it goes without saying that most parents would not have the objectivity to assess the circumstances of a drug trial apart from being given the assurance that the treatment their child would receive would cure the child.

Exploitative predators

Whilst it should have been incumbent on the government to duly inform the people, Pfizer should not have taken the opportunity to exploit the vulnerability of concerned, troubled and vulnerable parents, no matter what hopeful benefit might have accrued from testing the drug.

If indeed their drug could not have caused the deaths and deformities there was no study to prove or that allowed for them to conclusively arrive at that conclusion since the United States had already banned the use of that drug in any studies back at the home country.

Shopping for workshops for evil

It would appear Pfizer was shopping around for a place where they could conduct their deadly experiment and extricate themselves from culpability if it went wrong – which it did.

That the Nigerian government could have complicit in this malevolence is unconscionable but the further consequence of this atrocious exercise was that when polio [4] broke out in Northern Nigeria the parents refused to allow legitimate polio drugs to be administered to their children for the fear of being involved in new experiments offering false cures.

It meant for a while, polio which should have been wiped out of Sub-Saharan Africa began to spread bringing opprobrium on concerned helpless people who had lost confidence in both their government and seemingly helpful agencies of goodwill that could have helped them.

The West poured scorn on the Muslim Nigerians in the North for their stance when in fact it was in reaction to a despicably conducted exercise masterminded by a supposedly responsible global drug company, a few years before – they were once bitten and now twice shy.

Between arguments and responsibility

Pfizer might well have good solid and unassailable legal arguments but those are beside the point, they failed in their moral, ethical and corporate social responsibility to use their better position and expertise to help people who really thought they had salvation for their dire situation.

In the end, the little man in Nigeria might not have voice, means or angels in Nigeria to fight for their rights, fairness and justice, but by God they do have rights in this world to sue for justice where Big Pharma might just think they can rove the world with impunity

This time Lady Justice would again listen to their sorry case in the United States of America and I can only hope the moral, ethical and social consequences of Pfizer’s actions in Africa would exact high compensatory redress and punitive damages for their excursion to Africa regardless of the legal genius of their high powered attorneys.

The perseverance of the attorneys for the plaintiffs can only be commended and long suffering of the victims after all these years and trials leaves one quite touched and also apoplectic in righteous indignation at the inhumane and uncompassionate legalistic view Pfizer have portrayed.

Nonetheless, it must be heard loud and clear all around the world that Africans, the Third World and people in developing countries – for the want of more politically correct demographic appellations – are NOT guinea pigs or lab mice to be abused and discarded at the whim of some mad Mengele-esce [5] scientist or global corporation.

Sources

[1] BBC NEWS | Americas | Nigerians can sue US drugs firm

[2] Pfizer - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[3] Trovafloxacin - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[4] BBC NEWS | Africa | Q&A: Nigerian fears threaten polio drive

[5] Josef Mengele - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Earlier blogs on this issue

The Pfizer Drug Trial [Originally on akin.blog-city.com] – May 2007

Humantarian Pfizer fed Nigerian kids poison drug - allegedly [Originally on akin.blog-city.com] – May 2007

Church stance on condoms fuels atrocious claims

The curse of African leadership

To an observer from Mars, they would not be thinking amiss if they thought that Africa was cursed with people in authority who have no inkling of their responsibilities.

One such set of people in authority are those who derive their status from being proponents of religions ever so foreign to Africa but become part of the fabric of our societies.

The traditional rulers and healers who are the bastions of our historical and cultural heritage have now been demonised or subsumed into these religious political establishments that their erstwhile incumbency authority counts for nothing anymore.

They also have their faults, but this is not the forum to explore their failures.

The Origin of AIDS suspect

Critical analysis still leaves us a bit unsure of how HIV/AIDS ravaged the whole swathe of Sub-Saharan African through all the generations, because, it cannot have been people copulating with the Simian species but some conspiracies point to a major vaccination campaign that might have used contaminated agents – truth or not, that impression has stuck.

It then informs the way certain religious leaders admonished their followers to refuse polio vaccinations in Northern Nigeria stemming from a case where Pfizer had allegedly tested illegal drugs on children, some of which lead to deaths and disabilities.

This makes any offer of Western expertise to alleviate African problems a bitter pill to swallow because the question of trust is compromised with the history of Trojan Horse gifts that are offered in false sincerity for ulterior gains.

Outrageous baseless claims

This however does not excuse the claim made by the Catholic Archbishop of Mozambique where the church has failed to depress the sexuality and sexual energy of the people with Abstinence and Be-faithful but never use Condoms by claiming condoms are laced with HIV.

It is quite sad when supposedly knowledgeable leaders of society express such blatant ignorance and false assertions to excite hysteria in order to achieve an end when objective discussion has failed to yield the desired result.

Now, when it comes to planned parenthood or the management of sexually transmitted diseases, the Catholic Church cannot be said to have been the most help or responsible in understanding the demographics or attitudes of their laity.

In fact, one supposes the Church sees it fit to demand people abstain or be celibate since the priests never get to enjoy the joys of homo-sapiens-sapiens copulation – no fault of anyone because it is not doctrine; it is a rule of men.

Irresponsible behaviour

The greater dereliction of responsibility is in not realising that the weakness of human beings of sexual fulfilment has to be understand and catered for, in which case, if you cannot abstain from sex or be faithful to your partner (who could also be infected), use condoms.

The further issue here is to deprive those who are infected from enjoying sex if they decide to use protection because not everyone who has been infected acquired the infection through sexual contact.

The express stupidity of the archbishop is glaring from the fact that it is quite far-fetched that the HIV virus is conserved in condoms for the purpose of wiping out Africans who deign to use sexual protection.

There is enough scientific study to prove that HIV does not survive that well outside the body and it would only survive in blood if the blood is stored in the right conditions of temperature and containment, I doubt if condoms and their packaging fit into that scope of preservation.

Religion as a detriment to progress

The means of scare-mongering and urban legends to the end of stopping people from using condoms in the light of a greater humanitarian tragedy is beneath contempt to say the least.

I would expect that every respectable, knowledgeable and intelligent person with a stake in Africa would roundly condemn the archbishop as he finds ways to retract his statement whilst his integrity and status is diminished.

We just cannot afford to have such idiots mouthing nonsense and endangering the lives of vulnerable people just because they derive authority from some unAfrican religious order.

Defrock the man before the Catholic Church is a symbol of disgrace – even that is debatable in the light of this.

References

Polio Vaccines and the Origin of AIDS

The Origin of HIV & the First Cases of AIDS

HIV chimp vaccine theory dismissed

UNICEF Nigerian Polio Vaccine Contaminated with Sterilizing Agents Scientist Finds

Nigeria Muslims oppose polio vaccination

My Blogs on the Pfizer Drug Trials