Politics and economics of vaccine

The world is not settled on the debate over what are the causes of pandemics, which are diseases that ravage the entire world when they breakout. We are not agreed on the cause because its origin has been a phenomenon caught up in very big controversy involving those who possess capacity to tell the rest of the world the truth.

Developed nations do have capacity to unearth influenzas that erupt once in a while to torment the human population, but they have not done so and from the look of things may never do so; the reason is that many suspect they have a hand in it, stressing that pandemics have served their narrow purposes over time. There are literatures available alluding that pandemics have been deployed to undermine some races in the past. Africa is a good example. Introduction of strange diseases was a key factor in weakening the natives before full introduction of the obnoxious trade in human beings.

There was one that emanated from South America, Guatemela  to be precise. Everyone denied knowledge of how it came about, but declassified documents released by American government under Barack Obama administration showed the US government had a hand in it. It was so bad that the Obama administration agreed to pay compensation to some victims. Tulsa was a capital for black business. In that area blacks demonstrated they could be as organized and very productive as whites. Racists swore it would not be. It took the introduction of a deadly virus and administration of a fatal vaccine to bring the civilization down. Same treatment was applied to native Indians who are the original owners of most parts of what we know today as America.
A number of us must have read or heard that diseases are strong tools in the hands of superpowers for taking advantage in the unseen war to corner dominion and appropriate world economic gains to their people and countries. The arguments about the origin of coronavirus and the special attention given to China is instructive. Trump has been relentless in pronouncing COVID-19 a China disease and till tomorrow, the European Union is pushing for her scientists to be allowed into China to carry out an investigation into how the disease came to be, a request China has been steadfast in rebuffing. The altercation over this matter is also instructive if you ask me.

It is in the response to the pandemic that you see clearly that developed countries know a few but very vital things not open to imitative societies such as ours. In spite of severe devastation inflicted by the pandemic on their population and general economic well being of their various countries, each of them opted to work independently for a solution. Even when Russia and China disclosed they found a vaccine cure, none of the Western countries gave a nod. The big question again is why?
The answer is simple: economic interests. As we would soon see, marketing of vaccines in itself is big business, it brings billions of dollars into economies. It is exactly the reason each leader in developed settings is making themselves available to be vaccinated and massive publicity given so that unthinking societies can on the surface of it pass the safety approval. They are aware it is big business, masked in the guise of cure.

Most of the white nations are insisting on using products from their countries, meaning if even government pays the private sector to purchase the drugs for public administration even on a free-of-charge basis, the funds are not wasted, given that money would go into the economy as profits for the manufacturing companies and in the form of salaries and wages for labour of various nature. This way the economy is refloated and made buoyant for healthy business transactions.

Now for uncritical societies like ours, it is one directional reaction. We wait to take directives from the World Health Organization (WHO), it will be complete with instructions on specifically what to buy and in what form. We must patronise foreign companies. Already Nigeria will spend US$ 540 billion to purchase vaccines for treating seventy percent of her nearly 200 million people. Then there will be issue of storage capacity, already being hyped and hammered on by foreign health experts. We would have to build new storage facilities. Soon like the case with AIDS , we would be forced to continue to make budgetary provisions every year, both state and federal governments.

We should be worried about the safety of any such vaccines. The west is serious and very committed to reducing population in less developed settings, Africa in particular. This pandemic could be another opportunity. It is possible to give Africa a different kind of same drug, designed for “Exports Only.” It can happen. There are fears of molecular gene alterations in human beings, different from issue of general  after effects.

During the week, the Ohaneze Youth Wing put out a call asking Igbos to avoid vaccines. I read the release and found their fears predicated on some of the points already mentioned in this discourse. Our authorities must wake up to their cardinal responsibility to the citizens. Then a word for our leaders and governors in particular: on no account should they be reacting as if they are herding cows. They failed to order internal search for cure, now with a second wave of the scorch they are beginning to react like bulls in a China shop, panic measures everywhere. Citizens should not be suffocated with lockdown without monetary assistance to all. Am not talking about fastfood condiments, I mean real cash.

No matter how serious health challenges hit a society, they are matters within the choice of an individual to stay alive or to die. Government’s best approach is massive enlightenment campaigns and checks, not trial and conviction as we saw in the early part of the year when the current pandemic hit us.

Happy New Year to all my fans.