By Asmau Ahmad
A virologist, Professor Oyewale Tomori, has advised people with adverse post-vaccination effects following COVID-19 vaccine inoculation to consult a physician for thorough examination.
Tomori, Chairman, Expert Review Committee on COVID-19, gave the advice in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Tuesday in Lagos.
According to reports, some persons had complained of persistent fatigue, recurring body pain and frequent sickness, attributing the symptoms to the aftermath of their COVID-19 vaccine inoculation.
According to Tomori, further investigation will be needed on such complaints to explore their clinical significance to the vaccine and disease.
Tomori, however, affirmed that researches showed that COVID-19 vaccines are safe and severe reactions after vaccination are rare.
He noted that people react to medicines and vaccines differently, stressing that state of health was critical to how individuals react to vaccines.
“You got a vaccine over a year ago and you are saying it’s affecting you now. That’s hard to prove because reactions to vaccines are almost immediate and temporary.
“Such individuals might have been exposed to other things. The symptoms being experienced might not necessarily have a causal relationship with the usage of the vaccine.
“They need to go to the doctor for a thorough examination; give a history of when the vaccine was taken, when the symptoms started; what are the symptoms. Is it as a result of something you ate or did,” he said.
Tomori noted that till date, no serious adverse events related to any COVID-19 vaccines had been reported in the country.
The virologist noted that globally, there had been some concerns about long COVID, noting that long COVID was associated with COVID-19 disease and not the vaccine.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) defines post-COVID-19 conditions or long COVID as coronavirus symptoms that persist or return three months after a person becomes ill from infection with SARS CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes COVID-19.
WHO noted that most people with long COVID have evidence of infection or COVID-19 illness, while some may not have tested positive for the virus or known they were infected.
Prof. Tomori said that research was ongoing for specific treatment for long COVID, noting that the current management deals with each symptom individually.
Similarly, Prof. Tanimola Akande, Professor of Public Health, University of Ilorin, said adverse reactions occur to any medication or drug.
Akande noted that the worry would be on the magnitude and severity of the adverse reaction.
Akande said that most adverse reactions to COVID-19 vaccine are usually very mild in the form of fever, muscle pain and headache.
“Severe forms of adverse reactions are uncommon and should be reported to health facilities promptly for necessary measures and investigations,” he said.
