Professor Oyewale Tomori is one of Nigeria’s most versatile virologists, a former Vice-Chancellor of the Redeemer’s University and a vocal voice among African scientists. In this interview, he advocates for the promotion of non-pharmaceutical interventions to control the COVID-19 pandemic and explains why Africa is lagging behind in the production of vaccines.
Scientists say a pandemic is always expected at the turn of every Century. Is this accidental or coincidental?
We can control the occurrence of epidemics if we change our behaviour and address the way we do things; we can actually control the frequency of epidemics. There is this concept called – One Health Concept, which looks at the human being, the animals and their relationship with the environment, that causes the epidemic to occur. As long as there is an increased interaction between animals and man, the occurrence of epidemics will continue. Every growing plant and animal have their own peculiar viruses and pathogens, which they somehow sort themselves out by nature but when we humans invade their territories, we expose ourselves to their viruses.
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Man and animal are closely related; therefore, there is a possibility of the transference of diseases from animal to man. Take Yellow Fever for example; it is the disease of monkeys, and when humans invade the jungle as hunters or farmers, vectors like mosquitoes that can cause a transfer of the viruses or diseases from animals introduce the viruses to the human population. The domestic animals too have their own contribution in the spread of diseases. Human transportation too can cause it; there’s a lot of movement from one region of the world to another.
We are going to be having more of these as we continue to interact with our environment. As transportation and contact with human beings is improved, we will continue to have such epidemics.
Only about one percent of the global COVID-19 vaccine distribution is in Africa. What is the science community in Africa doing to reduce vaccine dependency on the West?
Let me say that Africa is responsible for its own state of affairs; it is not the fault of the Western nations or any other group of people. The talents are there in Africa, it is just that the environment for the talents to function is not there and that is because of politics. It is the failure of scientists to get involved in the politics. I’m not saying scientists should carry placards but to get involved in the discussion of how to make our society better, scientists must continuously get engaged in broader conversations on how to improve our society, the leaders themselves get the brunt of all the failures.
Nigeria is involved in production of vaccines. Animal vaccines have been produced from the National Veterinary Institute, VOM, in Jos, since 1924 and they are still producing. Also on the human side, Nigeria started production of vaccines but politics destroyed all of these. So, the human capacity is there but the lack of creating the enabling environment and policies is a problem that has to be addressed.
What do you mean by politics destroying the vaccine initiatives in Nigeria?
There are certain things that need to be in place for vaccine production to be scaled up. For instance, the enabling environment, issue of consistent policies. There is no way you can talk about doing good research without regular electricity and water supplies. There are basic things other countries do to ensure that their scientists keep working. Again, the issues of importation of equipment for research. If we are serious about research, the politicians will remove duties on material coming in for scientific research. No single country can produce everything it needs. But we should produce something. We talk about producing the vaccines in Africa; let’s even talk about producing the containers for storing the vaccines, that is petrochemicals not vaccines, so there are so many aspects of production that we can engage in in Africa.
But now, the COVID pandemic presents an opportunity to forge ahead and learn from our mistakes, make corrections and move forward.
What about the discussion for COVID-19 Vaccine production sites in Africa?
The issue is not about establishing vaccine production sites across Africa. I think what must concern us the most is the sustainability of such ventures. What happens to those sites if COVID 19 is eradicated? If COVID-19 disappears, what happens to the vaccine centres? More importantly, we should have a broader look at how to establish a centre that will cater for other disease challenges such as Measles, Cholera, Yellow Fever and others; we should also focus on broader health issues affecting Africans. As far back as five years ago, there was the African Vaccine Manufacturing Initiative, AVMI, which was the plan of Africa to develop a system where we have regional production of vaccines. African scientists should go back to the AVMI plan, which is one way we can produce sufficient vaccines for the citizens.
You have spoken so much about how politics and policies are affecting the COVID-19 situation as well as Africa’s health system, but on a broader note, we have scientists too as appointees of the government. Why is change not coming from the scientists in the political circle?
It is a combination of so many things. Yes, scientists are appointed into positions of authority, but you need to have the true conviction of a true scientist. The important thing is for scientists to learn political messaging; we must learn how to negotiate with politicians and speak to them on how promotion of science can improve GDP. As scientists, we must articulate the gains of science in general development and find a way to communicate this to politicians.
Government is also looking for tax and money, science does not give you money immediately, you have to invest in research for a long time before you can get anything out of it. What the government is seeking for is return on investment, but as scientists we must tell politicians that just one epidemic can wipe out that entire investment of a country in a second; and that is our strong point. It is a healthy nation that makes the economy boom; all of the returns that come from oil, agriculture, export and all of that will be wiped out with one epidemic.
See what happened to us during COVID lockdown – the entire country lost revenue, and the GDP dropped drastically. That is the strong point, we the scientists need to communicate with politicians; a healthy nation is what makes a country boom.
Africa’s response to COVID-19 is like making ammunition at the war front. We need to have a rethinking; we need to think freely in order to move Africa forward in terms of COVID-19 research, vaccination and all other responses to disease outbreak, health emergencies and other health challenges confronting our society today.
Are you engaged in any alliances or coalition of African scientists involved in COVID-19 vaccine production in order to ensure sufficiency and cut dependency on the West?
Yes, there are all sorts of initiatives, such as African Centre for Disease Control, the European Union and the African Union, it is good but my opinion is that it is a temporary response; we need to be considering a more sustainable approach to make sure that Africa is able to build strong structures that will outlive COVID-19. While we appreciate the support of the West, we should also look inward to create solutions to our problems. At the local level, Nigeria is making attempts to revive the production of human vaccines but along the way, you have hitches from people of interests, that is why I said as scientists we need to advance our messaging to communicate with the politicians as well as the public in such a way that will make them appreciate the relevance of our work.
You said the bulk of the problem is the lack of political will, are you now saying scientists should get involved in politics?
Not necessarily, what I mean is that scientists should understand the power of negotiating and the thinking of the politicians and get your language of science to the point where the politicians understand what is in it for the country and the public. For instance, how do you explain what is in it for the country’s GDP if vaccines are produced locally? These are the points where science communication should meet politics. These are the kind of messages scientists should be engaging with politicians.
Are we ever going to have an end to COVID-19 variances? And can you explain in lay man’s language how the variance can affect vaccination?
The pathogens remain immobile, it remains so until humans carry it from one point to another, so that is the main issue driving up the variance. If we stop it in its tracks by wearing our mask, washing our hands, avoiding public places, maintaining social distances, there will be no mutation, so the most important part of control is adhering to those non pharmaceutical interventions. Vaccines came in because we failed to use those interventions to stop the virus on its track and if we still continue to fail to adhere to the non-pharmaceutical procedures, we will continue to have variances that will override the vaccines we are producing. So it is back to basics, we need to go back to insisting on the non-pharmaceutical.
One other error we make in Nigeria is that we assume it is the government that is controlling the epidemic. It is not the government that is controlling the epidemic, it is the people. So long as we abide by the non-pharmaceutical intervention, we can control this epidemic. The countries that have succeeded are countries that were strict about enforcing the non-pharmaceutical interventions, so that is what we need to do.
Why is it that those who get vaccinated still get infected?
We have ascribed to the vaccine what it is not supposed to do. Vaccines are not designed to prevent exposure, you are the one to prevent your exposure, if you cannot prevent your exposure, it means you can still get infected. The vaccine will not stop you from getting infected, however, if you have the vaccine and you have developed immunity, that infection will not become disease, it will not progress to hospitalization, and it will not progress to death. That is what the vaccine does. And, it is not the day you get your vaccine that you develop immunity, it takes 10 days to 2 weeks. So, if in that period before you get to the stage of immunity, you get infected you can still get the disease but the vaccines will prevent severity.
Someone can be vaccinated and not yet get immunity; it is the immunity that prevents disease. What is important is successful vaccination, that is vaccination that leads to the development of immunity, but it is not all vaccination that leads to immunity.
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