The Umuahia-born leading researcher in the production of COVID-19 vaccine, Onyema Ogbuagu, has dispelled some rumours and misinformation about COVID-19 which he says can cost lives.
In a series of twits on his Twitter handle, Ogbuagu noted that the vaccine’s efficacy results were real and were not delayed to hurt or help any politician.
He said, “The Pfizer vaccine doesn’t contain the SARS CoV-2 virus or part of it”, pointing out, “no nefarious or sinister plan to inject people with a labelling code.
The mRNA vaccine is not integrated into recipient’s genome” and “no fetal tissue is used for the mRNA vaccine.”
Ogbuagu further twitted, “We just want to apply science to improve patient outcomes and even better, to prevent disease. We can only work our way out of this pandemic through effective vaccines especially because it is difficult to achieve optimal mask wearing and physical distancing to end the pandemic.”
He added, “When the “COVID” vaccine becomes available, let’s roll up our sleeves and let’s end this thing.”
According to him, another challenge would be equitable distribution of vaccines, including “High vs low/middle income countries, and even in developed nations, to ensure that vulnerable and underserved populations disproportionally affected by the pandemic are proportionally reached.
“Now is time for strategic distribution plans at global, national and community level,” he concluded.
