The Director of the African Centre of Excellence on the Genomics of Infectious Diseases, Professor Daouda Ndiaye has insisted on the benefits of the jab against COVID-19.
By Edouard Touré
At the initiative of Gaïndé 2000 company, the Senegalese academic recently hosted a webinar on the theme: “COVID-19, breaking the contamination in workplaces.”
He said he understood the misgivings expressed by some citizens about vaccines, pointing out that the same fears had existed with malaria, AIDS and has resurfaced with COVID.
“Science is democracy. However, opinions must be based on scientific analysis. What is more important in the context of a vaccine is to see whether it is toxic to humans. This is the first question to be answered,” he explained.
He reassured the doubters that all the Covid-19 vaccines received in Senegal and for which the World Health Organisation (WHO) and other major global institutions have given their approval are safe.
In doing so, he recalled that a drug is always dangerous if it is not regulated as it should be.
“There is nothing wrong with these vaccines as some people claim. Immunity is not total. This is the norm for most vaccines. The gains are extremely important. The day there are major side effects, even if the international organisations don’t block the arrival of these vaccines, we will be the first to tell the Ministry of Health to do so,” he said.
According to him, as long as this is not the case, we must encourage the continuation of vaccination campaigns because, “we are obliged to fight this battle on behalf of the state, on behalf of the population to save our country which has given us everything.”
He revealed that 15 percent of non-immunised people can be protected by barrier measures, but that it is necessary to combine the two.
“There is not yet a definitive report in Senegal to determine the protection rate. We are convinced that these vaccines have played a fundamental role in controlling the pandemic. People who are not yet vaccinated are more at risk from Covid-19. Respecting the barrier measures and getting vaccinated are acts of patriotism,” Professor Ndiaye concluded.
CP/te/lb/as/APA