Selective: Melaye's Vaccine Claims

Senator's claims is a mixture of truths and misleading claims (Getty).

Emerging story

Senator Dino Melaye is a man well known for the fearless expression of his opinion on national matters with several brushes with the Federal government's agencies.

The latest of this is his spat on the COVID-19 vaccine opted for by the Federal Government. Indeed he has aired his thoughts on the vaccine at various times, such as here and here.

According to the former senator, the AstraZeneca purchased by Nigeria isn’t the most effective and, as such, shouldn't have been settled for by the FG.

In 5 minutes, 9 seconds interview with Roots TV, which was re-posted by blogger Tunde Ednut with more than 200k views here, Dino Melaye says Nigerians deserve better than those settled is the least potent after a 14-day administration.

Excerpts of the interview read thus:

“I’m not saying Nigerians should not take COVID-19 vaccine, but what I am saying, in essence, is that —-there are four notable vaccines approved by WHO- AstraZeneca, Johnson & Johnson’s single-shot COVID-19 vaccine, Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine, and the one by Moderna. The least most potent of the four is AstraZeneca and the one with greater side effects.

“Nigerians deserve the best, and the government must carry out what I call citizen diplomacy when it comes to the issue of its citizens. They must show that they love their citizens and desire the best for their citizens.

“If you go through, for example, the aggregate of these four vaccines, Pfizer and Johnson &Johnson during the trial period, you will discover both scored above 90% ineffectiveness, but AstraZeneca, the one imported by the Nigerian government for its citizens only scored 62% effectiveness 14 days after the second dose.

“Then if you also look at the side effects, this same one imported by the Nigerian government has the worst side effects. The side effects include pains, headaches, tiredness, muscle aches, fever, joint aches, and nausea. With all these side effects, if it manifests in one person, it is even more dangerous than COVID-19 itself.

“If you have a drug that has the least potency, and you left those with higher potency. One with an effectiveness of 94 percent, another with 95 percent is there, and you decided to go for the one with 62 percent potency. I think it is not right,” he says