The Vaccine Resistance Brigade – What Pride In Ignorance? By Austin Isikhuemen
I first encountered vaccination at Local Authority School, now Idigun Primary School, in the late sixties. A gun-like gadget with hoses that led from a reservoir of the life-saving vaccine. We all queued like holy communion recipients on a parade of the faithful in a state of grace!
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We had no choice because our headmaster told us the vaccine was necessary to keep us safe and headmasters of old never lied! They got that stuff called integrity in abundance. They never preached one thing and did the opposite.
For completeness, I must say that that wasn’t really my very first experience of vaccination. The very first I recall was administered with a needle with a flat end that was used to make several painful insertions on your arm and then a paste-like yellow substance was rubbed on the spot now emitting little specs of blood.
Needless to say, we children of that glorious era always had a scar on the left arm spot of this vaccination as a memento of sorts.
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Then came the recent era of universal vaccination of children through the National Days of Immunization, part of the policy derivatives of the Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI).
This was focused on babies in other to prevent, indeed, eradicate the six deadly early childhood diseases of polio, whooping cough, diphtheria, measles, tuberculosis, and yellow fever.
The main objective of the national immunization is to reduce child mortality, morbidity, and disability associated with vaccine-preventable diseases. Yet as laudable as this program was, there were pockets of resistance that made the achievement of its objective a more difficult proposition.
There is evidence though of huge gains as manifested in reduced incidences of the targeted diseases, especially among the elite.
Quite a number of diseases that threatened humanity and increased man’s misery index have been successfully eradicated over time through vaccination. This is a fact.
Vaccination has even helped fight ignorance and in some cases, gave real verifiable proof that some of our widely held beliefs and rationalizations for diseases and their causation were simply a figment of our ignorant imagination.
Witches, if they exist at all, should be suing us for false attributions for what they never had their evil fingers on. They should consult Hope Uzodinma on how to win such cases in our apex court! I digress for stress relief… However, sections of the country, especially my Northern brothers, resisted the polio vaccine for a long time which had the untoward consequences we see along city streets across Nigeria today.
Sights of boys and young men with malformed limbs on sleds begging for alms. However, you cannot really say the fear of the North was unfounded considering the results of the evil Trovan vaccine tests that led to the unfortunate deaths of our children in Kano and elsewhere.
Happily, everyone has accepted the polio vaccine now but the late acceptance, even outright rejection, spearheaded by clerics put us in the same bottom league with Afghanistan as the last frontier of polio worldwide. Now, thank God, we are free of that debilitating disease.
Enter Covid19. Reminds me of the popular Bruce Lee film Enter The Dragon. The vicious disease said to have originated from Wuhan in China has been the face of a divided global world mired in the unhealthy economic competition following the end of the cold war.
The fact that the West resents the rise of the China behemoth as a global economic power played, and indeed, continues to play, a part in the untidy diplomatic shenanigans of the Trump era where instead of focusing on the solution, Trump busied himself with recriminations of the Lin Pin government and his attempt to rename the virus after China.
Sadly, the resistance to this vaccine was spearheaded by Donald Trump and his horde of the unthinking and the politics-is-everything renegades of the GOP. Is it not strange that the same trump that was a nay-sayer on the vaccine front was the first to get the unapproved vaccine when covid19 paid him a courtesy call?
How could this get lost on his fanatical fans who did not find it contradictory that Trump’s Campaign MAGA hats were made in China while he mouthed obscenities and threats about China at every turn?
The same silly scenario plays out in our nation daily. A pastor or Imam prays for you and tells you to go your way and that you are protected against every machination of the devil. So, gullible folks, instead of taking practical precautions rely on the pronouncement of his cleric. But he fails to correlate the absurdity of the same man of God being sandwiched between Hilux pickups bearing AK47 assault rifles.
Even the one with faith on a mere MOG sticker on his car gets pushed off the highway by his pastor and his siren-blasting protectors who are far from the angels he recommended at the pulpit. And I ask; is it that they believe Satan is more potent than the Lord?
You must be wondering what the relationship is between vaccines and this essay some may consider as a diatribe against their own fathers in the lord or unquestionable alfas. There is strong nexus.
Some clergymen led the disinformation about covid19 vaccine. First, they said it was meant to bring the apocalypse and that the vaccine was the route through which 666 would be enacted in real terms.
Let us assume, without conceding, that this is true. Are these folks saying they can stop God’s plan that was predicted in the holy book? The next claimed that a micro-chip was being put through the instrumentality of the vaccine.
Yet they fail to tell their adherents that a microchip is not a liquid (like the vaccine) but hardware with electronic circuitry. Next, they claimed the most ludicrous – that covid19 was caused by 5G telecoms technology! Yet they are themselves using 5G enabled smartphones in Nigeria, such as my Galaxy S10+, and they automatically log onto 5G network signals whenever they go on their popular dollar-yielding foreign forays to catch lucrative fish for Christ! Yet their followers believe them and propagate their falsehood.
What is my point in this essay? Before I get attacked for this covid19 vaccination advocacy, I wish to state ab initio that I am not here to attack the choice the anti-vaccine groups have made.
Rather my goal is to call on the not-yet-vaccinated to take advantage of the available opportunity today. Secondly, for those who have said that they will not take the vaccine, I would like to x-ray their resistance and go on to show that it could be foolhardy at best or at worst even fatal.
There are also those who genuinely, and ignorantly, unfortunately, believe the disease is not real or that it is not in Nigeria! Those too need to be engaged robustly and confronted with the facts which, as the cliché goes, speak for themselves.
To the not-yet-vaccinated just waiting for vaccine availability and opportunity, I say to them the vaccine has come and they should quickly take advantage by going to the nearest point to them and taking the shot today. Do not postpone to tomorrow what you can do today. What if tomorrow never comes for you?
I lost a dear friend who believed in the vaccine 100% and for genuine reasons awaited taking the jab from this week on a planned trip. Unfortunately, the virus struck and today we are singing nunc dimitis as the bell tolled for him. So, go get your jab TODAY.
Let me address those that say with false authority, even ignorance, that the virus is not in Nigeria. The facts fly in the face of that puerile argument. The first major politically exposed victim of this insidious virus disease was our President’s Chief of Staff, no less. For me, personally, I have lost personal friends and classmates in Nigeria and abroad.
Extremely GOOD people with very bright futures that were making contributions to humanity and their communities. They died untimely deaths because of this coronavirus and the disease it causes. In Esanland, we have lost several illustrious men, and possibly women who do not get a mention.
Rear Admiral Aikhomu, a complete officer and gentleman who survived a sterling military service to deserve retirement. I was last with him at Dame Dorothy, Rear Admiral Ebhalemen’s wife’s burial where we stayed in the same canopy! Months later the handsome gentle giant was dead.
A man who could demolish an entire country with a fusillade from the arsenal he commanded was struck down by an invisible virus! People lost a father, husband, business associates, comrade-in-arms, friends, and even the Irrua community, and Esanland, in general, lost a leader. In Edo state alone, 7 people died of covid19 in the last two weeks of August as reported by Dr. Ebomwonyi Osagie – the Team leader of the Covid19 Taskforce.
What is more painful is my personal loss of a bosom friend, Professional Security expert, Management guru, entrepreneur extraordinaire, communications connoisseur, and much sought-after adept public affairs analyst, a cultural exponent and sartorial czar with national and international decorations and recognitions.
A martial artist Black Belt dealt a physical blow to an armed robber wielding AK47 with bare hands and legs. A prophet with honor even in his own homestead where he had been given a title previously and then latterly re-honored with High Chief status – The Ogbeni of Irrua.
He was also a born leader who displays no foolish pride whatsoever and his interpersonal relationships cut across all strata of society. He had planned to take the vaccine this week for special reasons.
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The virus had other fatal plans. It ambushed and killed him. We mourn. We hear the great Victor Uwaifo succumbed to the same covid19 – a musical maestro and Professor of fine and applied arts and pride of Edo who looked ready to be here for a hundred years and more have just been stopped in his tracks. Just yesterday another illustrious Esan son died of covid19 as well.
The list is long: Dominic Adegbola – Lagos PDP chairman, Mohammed Fawehinmi – son of Gani Fawehinmi the firebrand Senior Advocate of the Masses. As of the 1st of September 2021, Nigeria has lost, in official records, 2,480 citizens to covid19!
The cited cases above are those of prominent people in their various fields. That is why their deaths made headline news.
What of those that are killed silently and buried quietly, unheralded and unsung because they are poor and, in fact, have not done any test because they either did not believe in such tests/covid19 or cannot even afford autopsy. Or their religion forbids it. So, they, as is usual with such folks, blame the witches next door or the neighbor with whom they had a land dispute, as the marabout predicted!
Make no mistake, the death figures from the covid19 are much more than reported! Saying the virus is a hoax like Trump used to do until he caught the disease himself and had to be treated with as yet unapproved cocktail of vaccines is foolhardy in the extreme. But you are not Trump and surely not likely to get that privileged treatment. So, my brothers and sisters, do not push your luck. Go get the vaccine. It is free!
Then there is the last group. The group believes the virus exists but was created with sinister motives, not in sync with their religious beliefs. These are mostly Christians of the not-so-orthodox hue.
They believe, just because their pastor says so, that the vaccine contains a microchip that will be used to control human beings remotely. They talk about 666 and the sign of the beast. They frighten you with apocalyptic predictions of the end times as if they can stop the time from ending as stated in our holy books. Some go as far as stating that 5G telecoms technology is the cause of covid19!
I respect their views to which they are entitled but I will call out subterfuge where I see it without the fear of being called names or even the devil’s alta-ego. Many of such people are my friends and even family but I love them to stay alive and not bear vicarious responsibility for anyone dying through their false judgment on this secular matter being given religious connotation. I dare aver that many are not as Christianly in conduct or character as some of the dead.
Micro-chip is a printed circuit and a solid-state material. It is not a liquid like this vaccine. If the vaccine was evil and with harmful plans underpinning its manufacture, how come the most knowledgeable professionals were the first to take it. And how can someone who read history and theology know more about medicine than medical experts?
Vaccines that Presidents, Prime Ministers, Technology, and economic drivers across the world have all taken this vaccine. Then one failed WAEC holder that has formed a survival congregation with even a minuscule of scientific knowledge tells members that the vaccine is meant to destroy their faith and send them to Lucifer with horns on his head and wagging a tail holding a three-headed spear from hades.
Haba! This is science and medicine and not occult sorcery! The virus is real. If you do not take the vaccine yourself, please do not discourage others, using falsehood and deceit.
You see, religious zealots abound in African countries. Religion has been a force for good in many respects and has added impetus to our match to education and greatness.
However, the use to which it is being put by charlatans out to either make money or to get popularity that translates to pecuniary up-weighting sometimes overrides those noble ideals. Some hypocritical bent can sometimes be discernable as well.
A cleric prays for you and tells you to go wherever you want and that you are safe and says he covers you with the blood of the Messiah. This is not a bad thing at all. What is suspect is that when the same cleric wants to go on his own travels, he carries a pilot vehicle and another trailing one with threatening automatic weapons at the ready.
It is either he doesn’t believe in the efficacy of the prayer or is guilty of misleading the adherent by not telling him to also take physical security precautions in addition to the spiritual fortification. It is not unlikely that some of these dodgy clergy may have taken the vaccine out of public view but ‘forms’ invincible man to gullible followers.
This is not a global condemnation of the men of God, but a call to the realization that if covid19 strikes you, God forbid, you go to the isolation center or ICU and consume oxygen alone without anyone accompanying you.
You, therefore, have the primary responsibility to take the vaccine and stay alive and by so doing, keep tears out of the eyes of your beloved ones.
Those demonstrating against Governor Obaseki’s drastic regulations to keep Edo citizens, residents, and commuters across the state alive and safe from this pandemic especially the more deadly mutation called Delta Variant, have their democratic rights to do so. But they should also know that NO ONE HAS THE RIGHT TO TAKE HIS OWN LIFE; YOU CAN GET ARRESTED FOR ATTEMPTED SUICIDE. Ask your lawyer.
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The same people that could not demonstrate when a lot of misgovernance was being perpetuated years before have suddenly got their mojo back just because they are being told to save themselves and not constitute a health hazard to their neighbors.
I would respect them more if they go out tomorrow to demonstrate against the brazen impunity of not linking Benin City with the national rail grid.
They will not do that because it’s not sexy so to do and the fear of the potentates of Abuja is, to them, the beginning of wisdom. But, wait a minute, did they know PMB took the vaccine himself and practices mask-wearing and social distancing like religion? I would have laughed in vernacular but this is not a laughing matter!
Statistics show that more than 95% of those dying or being hospitalized in the US are unvaccinated. Fact. Go and take your vaccine today. I took mine in April and the second dose in June 2021. Anyone in my household who refuses to take the vaccine will have to relocate elsewhere.
Let no one using keys with gum on one side or those playing pranks with electric bulbs fool you except you want to make being fooled your hobby. Dying through deliberate rejection of self-protection at no cost is probably the most foolhardy of all!
Uromi, 1st September 2021 – Austin Isikhuemen
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