The Association of Resident Doctors at the University College Hospital, Ibadan on Tuesday commenced a five-day warning strike to protest the non-payment of two months salary arrears. The association says 370 doctors in the hospital have not been paid their salary for two months.

Speaking with PUNCH HealthWise, President of the Resident Doctors in UCH, Dr. Zakariyah Temitope Hussain, said it’s been a tough experience for doctors working without pay. Highlighting some of the demands of the doctors, Hussain said “Some of our doctors have not been paid salaries for January and February 2021.

Professor of immunology, Idris Mohammed, says there is no drug or vaccine that is 100 percent safe. He noted that the Astrazeneca vaccine for COVID-19 is 70 percent safe, and that the opposition to the vaccine is triggered by politics, rather than scientific scrutiny.

Mohammed, who was Gombe task force chairman on coronavirus, stated this on Wednesday during the launch of 71,340 doses of AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine in the state. 

The Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospital Complex, Ile-Ife, has successfully performed surgery on a 14-yearold boy with rare heart problem. The Chief Medical Director of OAUTHC, Prof. Adebayo Adetiloye, said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria yesterday.

Adetiloye described the condition of the boy as a very rare one, saying that such an operation had never been carried out, both in Nigeria and the West African sub-region. 

The spate of concerns over COVID-19 vaccines and the AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine, in particular, is fast constituting a threat to vaccination campaign plans globally.

Not less than 20 countries in Europe, Asia, and Africa, have either suspended or postponed their COVID-19 vaccination campaign plans. The key concerns are the cases of bleeding, blood clots, and low platelet counts among people who received the AstraZeneca shot. 

Renowned virologist, Prof. Oyewale Tomori, warns that Nigerians should be ready for a third wave of COVID-19 if they don’t change their attitude of disregarding safety protocols. Tomori warned that very few percentage of people had developed antibodies to the coronavirus, noting that the implication is that many people would still get infected.

Speaking exclusively with PUNCH Healthwise, Tomori, who is the Chairman, Expert Review Committee on COVID-19, said Nigerians had become very complacent and were undermining the dangerous nature of COVID-19. 

Head of Haematology and Blood Transfusion at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital, Idi-Araba, Prof. Sulaimon Akanmu says the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 adverse effect is meant to be hemorrhage, and not blood clot.

He noted that scientifically, based on the composition of the vaccine, what should be expected is bleeding complication. He, however, said blood clot, which is being experienced, is a very dangerous medical condition that can lead to death in the absence of immediate medical intervention.

The National Association of Resident Doctors has asked its members to prepare for an indefinite nationwide strike from March 31, 2021. In a new internal memo dated March 18, 2021, titled, ‘Impending Strike Action,’ made available to PUNCH HealthWise, doctors were asked to prepare mentally, socially, and financially for the industrial action.

The strike, according to the notice, is based on the failure of the government to implement certain agreements. The memo read in part, “Recall that at our last ENEC, it was resolved that a two-week timeline for the government to expedite actions on issues brought to it.

With the many controversies surrounding the administration of the Astrazeneca vaccine to protect citizens from the covid-19 disease, the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has stressed that the benefits of taking the vaccine far outweigh the risks.

This came as the World Health Organisation (WHO) also declared that Astrazeneca Plc’s COVID-19 vaccine should continue to be administered as the benefits outweigh its risks. 

The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control has warned Nigerians against getting vaccinated with fake COVID-19 vaccine, and to ensure that the AstraZeneca vaccine administered on them has the original label.

The Director-General of NAFDAC, Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye, issued the warning in a statement on Sunday, explaining that the original Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine had been contracted to Serum Institute of India to produce in mass quantity.

Consultant Family Physician and Head of Department, Family Medicine Department at the University of Ilorin, Dr. Ibrahim Kuranga-Suleiman, says some people will react to COVID-19 vaccines, not necessarily because of a previous infection or because the vaccine is faulty.

He noted that some people react badly to some of the ingredients that were used in vaccine manufacturing simply because they are hypersensitive to the components.