DR IAN CLARKE: Mass vaccination must be Uganda’s priority

It is always important that we get evidence and facts based on science in order that we make the right decisions, and not base our decisions on misinformation or distortion of the facts. There is a saying ‘when America sneezes, the world catches a cold’. In terms of information arising from America and the west, by the time it reaches Africa it has usually been amplified, so Africa doesn’t just catch a cold, it gets Pneumonia.

Let me give two examples where this has happened in the medical sector: the family planning pill has been widely used by western countries for at least 60 years, but during this time studies found that those taking the pill had a higher chance of developing blood clots. For this reason the pill was then modified to contain very small amounts of hormone so that the risk of clots is very low. However, in Africa the contraceptive pill is still infrequently used because of the perceived risk of blood clots (even though this is on the basis of out of date information).

Several months ago the Europeans paused the roll out of the AstraZenica vaccine for a week because there were reports of a small number of people having developed blood clots. The result of this and many other negative posts on social media was that many Ugandans became fearful of taking the AstraZenica vaccine. While in Britain and Europe they then continued the use of AstraZenica the widespread fear by Ugandans resulted in many health-workers refusing to be vaccinated. By the time of second surge, the vaccine had been available for three months, but many health-workers were still not vaccinated, and some died as a result.

Even after we were hit by the second surge some people have continued scaremongering, claiming that those who were vaccinated are more likely to die of Covid. The facts are as follows: full vaccination with AstraZenica only gives 60% protection from Covid infection, but gives 90% protection against severe disease requiring hospitalization. Some of those who had only one vaccine (and were thus only 30% protected) got Covid and some died. Even some people who had two vaccines developed Covid because their second dose had not had time to cause full immunity. However, the vast majority of those who died were not vaccinated. The sad fact is that some Ugandans will lose their lives because they believe inaccurate information about vaccination.

Another factor, which contributes to misleading information, is that there is so little trust in government that negative claims easily gain traction. Both government and the public are to blame for this state of affairs. One could ask why is the trust in government so low (that is another article), but also why do relatively responsible people engage in spreading unsubstantiated rumours about government. I have nothing to gain by defending government but I will not engage in spreading unproven allegations fed by deliberate disinformation – to the point where nothing government says is trusted. This lack of trust then makes people make wrong decisions with disastrous personal consequences.

This lack of trust and dis-information also means that we are not working together to defeat the real enemy, which is Covid. Today we should have a razor-sharp focus on getting vaccines into Uganda in order that we reach herd immunity. Lockdowns have negative consequences: our children have been out of school for more than a year, we now have feral children who have forgotten whatever they had learned. What are we doing to a future generation of Ugandans?

While we are locking down, other countries are opening up, because they have vaccinated over 50% of their population while we have vaccinated one percent. Lockdown works by lowering transmission through separating us – by making us stay at home, or away from school, but vaccination protects us, so that we can get on with our lives. Getting large quantities of vaccines into the country and then getting them into people’s arms must be the national priority. This is war against this virus, so we should be on a war footing in which we all join together to defeat a common enemy. But I sometimes think that instead of being on a war footing we are just pussy-footing.