The Healthcare Federation of Nigeria (HFN) has implored the Federal Government to consider harnessing the expertise and resources within the Nigerian private sector for a successful rollout of COVID-19 vaccine in the country. President of HFN, Dr. Pamela Ajayi, who spoke recently on behalf of the Federation appealed to the government to consider the benefits of private sector participation in the enormous task of getting the vaccines to millions of Nigerians that need it.

A General Physician, Dr. Peter Atangwho, on Sunday, said drinking enough water every day was one of the ways to avoid depression. Atangwho, who is also the Chief Executive Officer of TeleMed Online Clinic, told the News Agency of Nigeria, in Awka, that not drinking enough water would result in dehydration, a condition that could affect or damage the human brain.

He described dehydration as the loss of body fluid due to illness, sweating or inadequate water intake, explaining that not drinking enough water can make the brain cells suffer enough to produce symptoms of low mood.

Nigeria is missing on the list of four countries shortlisted to receive the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccines by the World Health Organisation-led COVAX global initiative.

It seems the countries that did not make the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines shortlist were unable to meet the standard requirement of being able to store the vaccines at the required -70 degrees Celsius. A Press briefing addressed by WHO Regional Director for Africa, Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, on Thursday, stated:

The World Health Organisation, (WHO), yesterday said it has not disqualified Nigeria or any African country from accessing COVID-19 vaccines through the COVAX facility. Rather, it is supporting all countries to access vaccines as quickly as possible.

However, Nigeria has missed out on the first phase of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine, as the 100,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine expected to arrive the country this month has been replaced with 16 million doses of Astrazeneca vaccine.  

World Health Organisation Country Representative to Nigeria, Walter Mulombo, says the organisation is working with National Primary Health Care Development Agency to introduce Human papillomavirus vaccine into Expanded Programme on Immunisation schedule.

The information is in Mulombo’s message to mark the World Cancer Day on Thursday in Abuja. World Cancer Day is an international day marked on Feb. 4 to raise awareness of cancer and to encourage its prevention, detection, and treatment.

An associate professor at the Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Lagos, Dr. Arinola Joda, says infants and children below 16 years of age were exempted from being inoculated with COVID-19 vaccine because they were not involved in the clinical trials.

She said that as clinical trials did not involve children, the possible effect of vaccine on them is currently unknown. This is just as renowned professor of virology and former Vice-Chancellor of the Redeemer’s University Nigeria, Oyewole Tomori, said that nobody is sure how the vaccine might react on the foetus.

A Consultant Obstetrician and Gynaecologist, Dr. Joseph Akinde, says pulmonary embolism can lead to sudden death in pregnancy. Akinde said there is an increased tendency for the blood in a pregnant woman to form a clot.

The gynaecologist, who is the Chairman, Society of Gynaecology and Obstetrics of Nigeria, Lagos chapter, disclosed this during an interview with PUNCH HealthWise. He spoke against the background of a study published online in peer-reviewed journal, MedCrave, describing pulmonary embolism as a complication of venous thrombosis.

The COVID-19 candidate vaccine developed by Nigerian researchers has been listed on the World Health Organisation draft landscape of COVID-19 candidate vaccines. The team lead of the vaccine candidate research, Dr. Oladipo Kolawole, who is also a lecturer at the Adeleke University, Ede, on Monday, disclosed this in an interview with our correspondent.

Kolawole said the research was carried out at the Helix Biogen Consult, Ogbomoso, Oyo state. The WHO draft landscape is the list of all COVID-19 vaccine candidates in the world, showing different stages and it is usually found on WHO’s site.

A study by scientists at Imperial College London suggests that the manifestation of COVID-19 symptoms vary with age. The study, published online and undertaken by the Imperial College London-led REACT, shows that among other COVID-19 symptoms, chills, loss of appetite, headache and muscle aches were together most strongly linked with being infected, alongside the four classic symptoms such as loss of sense of taste, loss of sense of smell, fever, new persistent cough.

The acronym REACT is derived from the study’s title: Real-time Assessment of Community Transmission; and the findings are yet to be peer-reviewed.

Director of the United Kingdom’s genetic surveillance programme, Prof. Sharon Peacock, warns that COVID-19 global pandemic will likely persist for about 10 years to come. She says the new and more infectious variant of the contagion first found in Britain will become the world’s dominant strain. 

The variant was christened B117 by scientists. Prof. Peacock warned that the variant is beginning to mutate again and getting new mutations, saying it could affect the way the virus is being handled in terms of immunity and the effectiveness of vaccines.