Vaccine will be the final nail for COVID-19, says Nigerian-American leading Pfizer research

Onyema Ogbuagu, a Nigerian-American researcher and medical doctor, says the Pfizer and BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine “will be the final nail in the coffin” for the virus that has killed over 1.6 million people worldwide.  

Ogbuagu stated this on Saturday, at a virtual series on the theme, ‘COVID-19: Vaccine, Hesitancy, Myths and Reality’, organised by the Nigeria in Diaspora Commission (NiDCOM) in partnership with Ngex.

He also dismissed concerns that the vaccine would alter deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA).

Pfizer and BioNTech had announced that the first vaccine they developed against COVID-19 could prevent more than 90 percent of people from getting infected.

The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the vaccine for public use, adding that the authorisation is a “significant milestone” in the pandemic.

“I think that issue of vaccine hesitancy is not new. It’s been an issue that has played us for a long time. In fact, I think the World Health Organisation (WHO) at some point had listed vaccine hesitancy as one of the greatest threats to global health,” he said.

“I think if we just think about historically the role that vaccine has played, with either eradicating diseases, near eradicating diseases and even the year-to-year advantages, there have always been individuals that have been concerned about what vaccines are and there are a lot of misconceptions around the harms or the potential harms vaccine caused.

“Specifically, for COVID-19 vaccines, I think that one of the concerns has been about the accelerated process or timelines. I want to flag vaccine hesitancy as a serious threat for us. The punchline I would say is that thinking about COVID-19, vaccine would be one of the approaches that really hosts the greatest promise.

“You can wear a mask and maintain social distance; we know how difficult it is to maintain some of that for a long period of time and those don’t really get rid of the disease itself. I think that the vaccine will be the final nail in the coffin for COVID-19. So, we have a solution to the problem; let’s not introduce problem to the solution.

“I want to be very clear on this, messenger mRNA vaccine does not enter the nucleus; they don’t incorporate into the host DNA and so they should be no concerns about it altering human genomes. It does not alter DNA; it doesn’t make you a zombie; it doesn’t alter your genetic makeup and we don’t expect any interference with that.”

Speaking on the acceleration given to the production of the vaccine, Ogbuagu attributed the success to team work.

“The studies have been accelerated, which is appropriate because of the time that we are in. The fact that it is a global pandemic makes it quite significant, so everybody worked together,” he said.

“The reason the vaccine trial has gone on so successfully and I think it’s just an amazing experience, it’s just a tribute to how when everybody works together with a focus to achieve a common goal and address the current public health threat; this is what success looks like. Even though the studies went on fast, there was no shortcut. The study went through all the phases.”

In his response to a question on side effects, Ogbuagbu said there are no expected long-term adverse consequences, as the properties of the vaccine disintegrate in the body within a day.

“There are at least 75,000 or 76,000 people who have already received COVID mRNA vaccine. The vaccine disintegrates in the body in hours, majorly after you get the vaccine. We do not anticipate any long-term side effect that has not been detected very early on. We are pretty confident about the safety record of the vaccine,” he added.

Asked if the vaccine would be taken by pregnant women, the medical doctor said the clinical trial did not include them, but maintained that the vaccine does not cause infertility.

“We did not include pregnant women. We did not include breastfeeding women. We did not include them in this study. We conducted them on non-pregnant women and we were assured of safety,” Ogbuagu said.

Asked why airlines insist on passengers being vaccinated before they can board, the medical expert said it was in order.

“It does make sense that being vaccinated against COVID should be a requirement. Is there a model for this? Absolutely. How many of you have yellow cards? Don’t many of us have yellow cards for yellow fever vaccination? Those are important. So, sometimes we get to think of COVID-19 differently and forget how we have managed other deadly infectious diseases. I think airlines requiring people to have vaccines, I would support them,” the doctor said.

Speaking on why attention and research are focused on COVID-19 and not malaria, Ogbuagbu said COVID-19 has had wider negative impact on humans and the economy within a short period.

He, however, emphasised the need for African leaders to position themselves to address the health challenges affecting the continent.

A starting point, he said should include, developing and supporting scientists, building research infrastructure and creating enabling environments.

Sani Aliyu, coordinator of the presidential task force (PTF) on COVID-19, in his response to questions on the federal government’s preparation for the vaccine, said adequate plans are in place to get it to Nigerians when it gets to the country.

“There is a lot of work that is currently ongoing at the government side. The minister has set up an expert advisory group,” he said.