 Thank you for staying with us if you just indeed this is why 2.34 health and a lifestyle when it's the end tonight we're talking about the corona virus vaccine that has been spoken so much in the recent days I'm speaking to Dr. Jafeth Olubugi from Nigeria. He's the chairman committee on COVID-19, Nigerian Medical Association Lagos Zone. Good evening sir. Good evening. Welcome to Kenya and why 2.34 studios. Thank you for having me. Maybe I should begin by asking how is the COVID-19 in Nigeria and our country so far we are at 79,322 confirmed cases. Thank you for having me once again. The COVID-19 situation in Nigeria is not as bad as it is in Kenya and apart from that the number of cases confirmed were also dwindling and going down. The epic was receding until about 4 weeks ago when the international flights were opened up and the international flights were opened about 6 weeks to 2 months ago but the effect of that began coming to fourth about 4 weeks ago when cases started coming up again. But then again it's like I said it's not as serious as it is in Kenya or some other parts of the world because as at 24th which was yesterday there were about many thousand cases, about 66,000 cases. Just a little about 66,000 cases are tested positive and about 1,417 deaths there about compared to Kenya where you have about 79,000 cases. Nigeria has about 1,001 deaths and in Kenya you have about 1,417 deaths so you have 1,417 deaths from about 79,000 cases and Nigeria has about 1,100 deaths from about 66,000 cases. And then if you extrapolate the population of Nigeria compared to that of Kenya you're talking about maybe 4 or 5 times over. So if you do the maths and you find out that you're expecting a go for bid about maybe 10-5 deaths in Nigeria compared to that of Kenya. So it's not as bad but if it's one case, if it's one death nobody wants to be that one case and of course nobody wants to be that one death. So whether it's one thousand deaths or two deaths it's still serious because if it affects somebody or somebody's relative you know that it's serious. So the epic called was flattening in Nigeria but now it's picking up again and one of the reasons we cannot do that is because people stopped testing. People stopped testing, they stopped going to the test centres, they stopped caring totally because you go to the market, you go to the buses. We have transit buses, big buses that we call bialities. You find out people are not wearing their mask like they were wearing during the lockdown and the coffee appears. Also people started going to parties doing social gatherings and you see them in the hundreds without face masks so the cases have started going up again. But then again I am of the opinion that if we test more we probably pick up more cases and then we cannot take away the fact that the opening of the borders and the international travels may have had some form of effect on that. Or right maybe the same case is happening in Kenya but we have to do in the second wave in our country. But now in the recent days there has been a conversation on the vaccine and so many countries have come up to say we have a vaccine. Everyone is now maybe everyone is producing their own vaccine but the biggest question would be now is the vaccine that is being produced is it critical for it to help to bring down the COVID-19 or to control it? Oh yes, absolutely. If you look at the part of physiology of communicable diseases all over the world you want to see what is causing this disease, how it's been spread, who are who it's affecting. COVID-19 is affecting everyone all over the world over 60 million people affected by COVID-19 and because it's affecting and spreading all over the world even many countries are battling with the second wave now and many countries are wary of the second wave already. In Turkey I understand they recorded the highest number of deaths in a day yesterday or there about the same thing in California and so many parts of America and so many parts of Europe. So it's a big problem and then when you look at the measures put in place to curb the spread of the virus which include the non-farmacy measures which include the wearing of face masks, maintaining social distances, washing of hands and using of hands sanitizer and all that. The big question is how many people are obeying these measures? How many people are observing these measures due to the letter? Like I mentioned earlier in Nigeria to many people who have forgotten about the use of face masks, despite the fact that we people like me go on TV all the time and we tell people when you wear your face mask you are protected against COVID-19 and you are also protecting another person against COVID-19. So people are not all over the world. It's not just here. It's not just in Africa. So people all over the world are not obeying the social distancing rules as we should. We're not wearing our face masks as we should. So that brings us to the vaccine. The vaccine, if it's up to 80 to 90% potent, effective, it will curb the spread of COVID-19. But there are some issues about the vaccine and these issues will include safety. First of all, is the vaccine that has been developed safe to be administered to human beings No. 1? No. 2, is it potent that it's effective? Will it do the work you want it to do? Now, how about storage? Can it be stored under almost any conditions because you are distributing it all over the world? So you have to think about the storage. It has to be able to be stored for a long time. It has to be able to be stored at optimal temperature that is probably available almost everywhere in the world. And apart from that, about the side effects, a lot of people don't want to take the vaccine because of the side effects. Because we keep saying yes, it is true. We keep saying COVID-19 is new, a new body of knowledge all the time. So a lot of people are running away from it. Some people have even associated COVID-19 with the 5G network that is maybe the antichrist or something. So a lot of people don't want to take it. So is it safe? What are the side effects? Now, any vaccine may come with one or two side effects, but then again, when the side effects are fatal, brutal, life threatening, then that particular vaccine is not safe. And that is why vaccines have to go through at least three stages. We call them clinical trials. Three stages of clinical trials, the first one, the second one and the third one. In Russia and China, they skipped the third stage in order to be able to produce vaccines for their people on time. Which are these steps? Yes, the first one is when you want to test an antigen in a human or in an animal to ensure that the body will actually even mount up some immune system, immune response against the antigen. So at that first one that has been done, a particular vaccine is tested to see if the body will mount up some response against it. So they test that particular vaccine in a mouse, rat and all that. That's at phase one. Then the latter part of phase one, they test that vaccine a few people to see if they can withstand it. Then in phase two, you test that particular vaccine about 20 to 80 people to see how many of them we do work with it. If the vaccine will actually cure or prevent what you wanted to prevent, then phase three is where you test it in several thousands of people, up to 10,000 and upwards of people. Now, these stages all take numbers of years, a long period of time. Now because COVID is very serious and the world is giving it all the attention it deserves, some approving authorities try to fast track all these stages so that we can have vaccines that are potent and safe in the whole world as soon as possible. So Russia and China skipped the third part of it where you test it in different numbers of people including women and children, including pregnant women, including elderly so that you can see how the vaccine does in each category of persons. Now if you don't do that, you would know how the vaccine would do in children, how it would do in adults or in the elderly, how it would do in women or how it would actually perform in pregnant women. So if that is done or if that is not done, that particular vaccine may not be safe because it carry that attendant risk with it. And then apart from that, the first two want to determine the dosage that each person will actually need or the dosage that is actually safe for human being to use. And then the mode of administering, the mode of administration of that particular vaccine. So all these things go on underground that people don't know about. So producing a vaccine is such a myth. But if you have a vaccine that is potent, there are about six of them now that have reached stage three out of about 87 that have been developed. About 87 vaccines are going through clinical trials at phase one. About 37 of them have gotten to phase two, I think. Then even less are known as have gotten to phase two B, which is a later stage of phase two. And then six of them have actually reached phase three now. That means that they are safe to be used. They are just awaiting the FDA's approval. So many countries are making these vaccines and maybe one would ask if I get one vaccine and maybe the other one. Maybe get two vaccines which are different. How will they help boost the effectiveness? And in any case, how long will this immune of the vaccine last? Yeah, the vaccine is supposed to last for eternity, I mean for life. But then again, you know, vaccines like that and yellow fever only last for about 10 years or there about. Or it could last for life, but at least you can guarantee that it can last for 10 years. So the manufacturers will come out to tell us how long their own vaccines can last. I will call the AstraZeneca as a vaccine now, which they claim is about 94% effective. And then I think Sinovac also have a vaccine that is about 90% effective. But we would like to know if it's going to last for life for a number of years. But I think a lot of people are working on the vaccine to last for life. So if we can have safe and potent vaccines, we'll be able to curb the spread of COVID-19. And I think that is what the world needs now because not so many people want to be wearing masks around. Not so many people want to be washing their hands everywhere they go. If you go to some slumps especially, you would wonder how people can spread, how government itself can curb the spread of COVID-19 because people live closely together. They are dying and wanting closely together. They exchange, you know, market and all that. And then apart from that, people would always want to travel. Human beings are nomadic nation. They always want to move from one place to the other. So it is a vaccine, a potent and safe vaccine that can nip COVID-19 in the body. Now in the interest of time, tell me this, we have so many recoveries being recorded and the vaccine is here. If someone was recovered from COVID-19, they get the vaccine. Are they prone to get to transfer because we've been speaking of symptomatic and asymptomatic measures. If someone has the vaccine, are they able to maybe transfer it to susceptible persons? No, I don't think so. Although a lot of information is coming forth from COVID-19, vaccine and all that. But then again, the way vaccines work is that they prevent you from being able to infect another person. In fact, we talk about herd immunity. If at least 80% of the population can take the vaccine, you'll be able to control that particular disease in that particular community. So like you said, the other time that you want to take two. Well, if you take two, the better for you. But then again, the side effects of those two vaccines, we are not sure. So you may not develop side effect to one. You may develop to side effect to the other one. You may even develop side effect because of cross reaction of the vaccines. So if somebody takes a potent vaccine, you're not likely to be able to transfer the infection to another person. And lastly, if I have the vaccine, do I still need to wear my mask? And what if I don't want to get the vaccine? Oh yeah, like I said earlier on, a lot of people don't want to get the vaccine. But if you don't want to get the vaccine, just wear a face mask everywhere you go because it has been proven scientifically that when you wear your face mask, you are not likely to transfer or transmit the virus and you are not likely to contract the virus from anyone. So if you don't want to get the vaccine, wear your face mask. In fact, I once tweeted that if at least 80% of us wear our face mask, we will be able to control and stop the spread of COVID-19. But how many percentage of the populace actually wear their face mask. So if anybody doesn't want to take the vaccine, you wear your face mask. If you take the vaccine, you can still wear your face mask to be sure, to be double sure because these vaccines have not been around for so long. In fact, I worry for Africa because distribution was one of the issues I wanted to mention about the vaccine. If America is already planning on how to get the vaccine to their people, they are planning on how to give a particular percentage to the elderly, a particular percentage to the needy, to the poor, a particular percentage to those at the highest risk, the health workers and all that. So how long will it take the vaccine to get to Africa? How long will it be distributed? Would it be affordable? Would it be accessible to you and I? And if we come up with our own, will it be approved by the budget? And if we come up with our own, would it be able to make it to stage 3? Let it on stage 4. There's a stage 4. And that stage 4 is when it is approved by the Food and Drug Administration and all that. All right. We are out of time. Please give us your final recommendations on how you feel about the vaccine. Should we go for it? Yes. I would like to appeal to the pharmaceutical companies to put hands together and give Africa a vaccine on time. I would also like to appeal to the political office holders, the leaders, political leaders to do everything possible to procure the vaccines for Africa populace because not so many people want to wear their face masks. Not so many people want to obey the social distancing rules. So the vaccine is what can save us. We are lucky in this part of Africa because for one reason or the other it is not as serious as it is in the U.S. and Europe. And then this is why in the Americans and the Europeans but then again we should leave it to chances. And then to the populace. In the meantime, let us protect ourselves. Let us protect our loved ones. Let us protect the vulnerable, which are the elderly and those who may have one comogid disease or the other like diabetes, hypertension, kidney disease, heart disease and all that. These are the people who are fall prey to COVID-19 easily and then die easily from it. So we should wear our face masks. We should protect them and protect our loved ones. Thank you. Alright. Thank you so much, doctor, for coming and speaking to us. Namastu. And I wish you the best as you continue to enjoy your vacation here in Kenya. Please visit so many places and you'll go with some good news. And Bakum, thank you so much for staying with us. I hope you have learnt something. Even as we wait on the vaccine, personal responsibility is key like the C.S. for health. Motaika we keep on telling us the Kenyans personal responsibility is very much key. My name is Dereva Hillary. I was speaking to Dr. Jaqfele Olubugi from Nigeria. He's the chairman committee on COVID-19, Nigeria Medical Association Lagos Zone. And that marks the end of this broadcast. Have yourself a very good night. See you on Monday. Good night.