By Daniel Kakuru.
On the 17th day of the 2021 August, Ms. Rosette Kyarikunda took a leap of faith, surrendered herself and received her first dose of the Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid-19 Vaccine. Barely a week later, it is said, she endured humorless side effects including headache, chest pain and whatnot. She was admitted into Mbale Regional Referral Hospital where she slipped into coma and proved unmanageable. Thirty-six hours later, she died in the Intensive Care Unit of Kiruddu Referral hospital. They say she succumbed to multiple organ failure. She was, at the time of her dissolution, a fifth – year student of Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery at Busitema University.
We mourn, not only her, but also what would have become of her. It is always the same heartrending emotion when people die in their youth; when they don’t live long enough to accomplish their dreams; when they don’t live long enough to recount their deeds.
The 17th day of the 2021 August; the day Ms. Rosette Kyarikunda received her Covid-19 jab, Lt. Gen. Pecos Kutesa, a freshly retired bush war hero also drew his last breath at Max Hospital in India. Reports indicate that he had been admitted with a dysfunctional liver which was scheduled to be plucked out and replaced with a newer, functional one. Having comfortably lived with a donated liver for more than a decade, everything was in order until he decided to take the Covid-19 jab. Things happened very fast. The vaccine sparked an autoimmune reaction and his body decided that the liver was a foreign body. His eyes turned yellow. He checked in at Medipal Hospital in Kololo and the doctors said they had nothing clever to say about his condition. He was referred to Nairobi Hospital, but because things were getting worse, he was advised to travel to India for a liver transplant. He passed on before the surgery was performed. Five days later, he was entombed in Kabula County, Lyantonde District.
On the 12th day of the 2021 May, the government of Norway settled upon scrapping the Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine off their inoculation programme. They cited the risk of blood clots and low platelet count associated with the vaccine as the reason for their judgement. In a press conference, the infallible Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg announced that the castaway vaccine would no longer be used in Norway; not even voluntarily.
In a twist of events, the Ministry of Health – Uganda haughtily annunciated on the last day of July that they had received more than 285,600 doses of this dishonorable vaccine, all donated by the generous government of Norway. Such effrontery! Now, whoever wakes up and goes to a Ugandan health care facility seeking to be vaccinated against Covid-19 will receive one of those doses that were kicked out of Norway but benevolently donated to us.
The Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine (codenamed AZD1222 and marketed under trade names Covishield and Vaxzevria) is the one our government has decided is most appropriate for us to receive. And we’re not sure of whether we should or not trust the darned process. Developed by Oxford University in conjunction with AstraZeneca, it is rumored to have an efficacy of 76.0% at preventing symptomatic Covid-19 beginning at least three weeks after the first shot. It is also rumored to boast of an efficacy that stands well above 81.3% following the second shot. Further studies in Scotland claim to have found it 81% effective against the Alpha variant and just 61% against the Delta variant.
In spite of the fact that every drug has its side effects, we’re told that the Oxford-AstraZeneca apparently has a not-so poor safety profile. Theoretically, its side effects should include negligible ones like injection site pain and inflammation, headache, nausea, all of which are expected to resolve in a few days. However, there are different facts on ground. Recipients are experiencing adverse effects like vomiting, diarrhea, drowsiness fever, anorexia, chest tightness, lymphadenopathy. Thromboembolic disorders and low platelet levels are also occurring, but in less than 1% of the recipients. This explains why a host of European countries including Germany, Italy, France, Latvia, Denmark, Norway, Spain, Sweden, The Netherlands et al decided to suspend (indefinitely) the use of this vaccine.
Of course we, Ugandans are not very clever people. We shall probably never produce our own Covid-19 vaccine; at least not in the near future. It does not help that we have a dysfunctional government which cares about nothing but how to hold onto power. Unless a miracle happens, we shall rely (forever) on donations from richer developed countries. And as expected, they will donate to us what they are scheming to discard.
The Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid-19 Vaccine is not safe for human consumption and should be banned from Uganda. If you think it is, go and ask why several European countries have sluffed it off their immunization schedules. Thank God, it is not the only vaccine available on the market; there are so many relatively safer ones that we can try and comfortably afford to purchase. If we can’t find any alternatives, it is better to abandon the whole vaccination programme altogether; for we have lived safe and sound since March, 2020 when we confirmed our first Covid-19 case and can still stay alive a little longer.
The writer is nothing but a MugOfPorridge.
