A Nigerian Virologist and Public Health Expert, Dr. Ishaku Akyaka has opined that there will be no need for COVID-19 vaccines if 70% of the population in the country had developed antibodies against the virus.

Dr. Akyala posited that there is need for more Epidemiological national survey across all the state of the Federal too because we don’t know that so many people have been infected; he said there is therefore need to know whether we have herd immunity already as citizens of Nigeria.

Dr. Akyala posed the following questions;

Do people have antibodies to COVID-19? Do they have protective immunity already against COVID-19? What percentage of the population has the immunity to COVID-19? If we have up to 70% of the population who have developed antibodies against COVID-19, then we would say we have herd immunity and may not necessarily need the vaccine.

He hinted that studies should reveal this. Are we ready as a nation for such scientific conversation? He further queried.

“I would advise federal government to halt vaccines Procurement and shipment into Nigeria for now and allow citizens to still use their herd immunity which they are enjoying and is a natural gift. Attention should focus doing a national sero-prevalance studies in all the states of the federation and focus on few individuals with comorbidities.”

“The vaccine is dangerous now because we don’t know how it is going to behave in the long run in our African population.”

“There is need for us to carry out an independent evaluation and clinical trials of the COVID-19 vaccine before administering it on Nigerians” he concluded.

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There is need for more studies on COVID-19 in Nigeria: We might not need Vaccines – Akyala Ishaku PhD