“Get your shot and still keep safe,” Doctor Tuyi Mebawondu opens up on reasons the unvaccinated Africans are big threats to the vaccinated ones
A public health expert, Dr Tuyi Mebawondu, has described vaccination as the most critical tool to end the pandemic as he declared that another lockdown over COVID-19 Omicron Varriant is unlikely.
Speaking at the weekly e-Discourse organised by leading Pan-Africa forum, Platforms Africa, Mebawondu said that the vaccinated still have an upper edge adding that the unvaccinated exhibit the worse form of the disease and constitute threat to the vaccinated.
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According to him, equitable access to safe and effective vaccines is crucial to ensure no one is left behind.
In his words, “No-one is safe until everyone is made safe by vaccination.
“There is some concern that the vaccines may not be as effective against omicron variant. But if you are vaccinated, your immunity against the strain is not zero. Still our main problem is the unvaccinated.
“Apart from the fact that they can easily be infected, they also exhibit the worst form of the disease.
“What is also known is that the omicron variant is a major culprit in reinfection of both vaccinated and unvaccinated. Anyhow, the vaccinated still have an upper edge.
“Now the tools in our kit to deal with Covid 19 of whatever strain still remain face mask, hygiene, social distance, avoidance of crowd and vaccination. Get your shot and still keep safe,” he said.
Speaking further, he said the travel ban by the EU and America on African countries is a step in limiting spread noting that another lockdown is unlikely.
“The vaccine deployment and travel protocols have helped a lot of countries to do partial to full opening of the economic space.
“Lockdown has brought with it undesirable political and social liabilities. Riots have increased, race relations have become more tense and nations have been activated on panic mode.
“This pandemic has both political and economic dimensions.
“For most countries, nobody wants lockdown or unrest associated with the pandemic. Though we are tired and fatigued, but the virus is not tired yet.
“A new variant will set up panics both in politics and economics which will reverberate all over the globe since no one knows the extent of dislocation it can cause.
“In Covid 19 Omicron variant, there are at least 30 mutations in the spike protein (used in entering human cells). It became a concern because we do not know what severity to expect, how the germs will be transmitted, the effects of vaccine on it and other comobid issues.
“For now, all we know is that it is more transmissible and that current vaccines are challenged with the the variant. But we cannot say for sure whether it leads to more hospitalization.That will be determined in few weeks,” he added.
