By Azuka Onwuka
Last month, I lost some people close to me to COVID-19. They were people aged between 35 and 65 years. They were healthy and active people. A few went into the intensive care unit but were lucky to survive.
They all had similar symptoms. They were ill and treated themselves for malaria or typhoid fever. They didn’t get better. They felt weak. They had some difficulty in breathing. They were taken to hospital and administered oxygen. They were taken into the ICU. Some died before getting into the ICU where they would have access to the ventilator. One common thing among them all was that none of them had been vaccinated.
Before they could be accepted into the isolation centres or the ICU, it was very difficult. The usual response was: “No space”. It was only after someone who knew somebody was contacted that space appeared for the patients who were close to death because of difficulty in breathing. If anyone died while waiting in the ambulance, it did not matter much to those in charge. These were government health facilities.
The private hospitals were different in approach but not better. In the Nigerian lingo, their own attitude was: “Money for hand, back for ground.” They asked for a deposit of between N7m and N15m before they could even admit the patient.
Imagine having your relative gasping for breath by 11 p.m. and being told by the government hospital that there is no space to admit the person, or being told by a private hospital that you must pay about N10m before they can admit the person.
Imagine if you have nobody to contact to help you open the “gate of Nigerian medical heaven” or you don’t have such an amount of money to transfer to a hospital at such a time for your loved one to be admitted. The next and certain stage is death. Imagine watching your loved one die in your hands because of the Nigerian system.
This is why it is difficult for many to believe that most of the deaths in Nigeria are “as God willed them”. How could God will that someone without money or someone who does not know people in power should die while those with money and connections should live? Why should countries in Europe, America and Asia with higher respect for human life and great health care system have higher life expectancy while Nigeria that mentions the name of God in everything will have low life expectancy?
Why does a pregnant woman have a higher chance of surviving during childbirth in Japan than in Nigeria where people are more religious? The same thing goes for a baby born in Japan and the one born in Nigeria. The same thing goes for the way our security operatives open fire on unarmed demonstrators in contrast to the way unarmed demonstrators protest for weeks in many countries and even throw things at the police without anyone getting killed.
Does God love Japan more than Nigeria? Does Japan worship God more than Nigeria does? Those who say that the needless deaths in Nigeria are the way God wants them should answer these questions.
The sudden deaths which are attributed to COVID-19 recently contrast with what we experienced last year when it came into Nigeria. Before COVID-19 came into Nigeria last year, Nigerians (as well as Africa) were in panic mode. Because of the poor medical facilities in Nigeria (and Africa), especially the paucity of ventilators, there were fears that corpses would be picked up from the streets once COVID-19 arrived.
However, when COVID-19 eventually came in, people were dying in droves in the West but not so in Africa. Many of those who had COVID-19 in Nigeria, especially those without any underlying illnesses, merely experienced mild fever or loss of sense of smell and taste for a while. Many saw it as malarial attacks which were diagnosed as COVID-19 for the sake of embezzling funds budgeted for COVID-19. The lockdown was also seen as a waste of people’s time by many.
Then, the first Delta variant was diagnosed in December 2020 in India, and it spread rapidly through India, the UK, the US and other countries, and became the predominant variant. In early July 2021, it was detected in Nigeria. Even though I heard stories about its power, I didn’t know anybody who had been infected by it.
That was to change last month when some people who had it were those close to me. I got involved in late night calls and the suspense of hearing that your loved one was being given cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) inside an ambulance in front of a health facility while waiting to be admitted. Some died; some survived. Their spouses who were with them said they saw some other patients who died while in the ICU or wards or in ambulances while waiting to be admitted.
The sad angle to the Delta variant is the quick way patients die. Once a person can no longer breathe well or the oxygen level has dropped to below 50 or it is said that the lungs are filled with fluid but the person does not get good medical care or access to a ventilator, death usually follows. All this usually happens within two or three days of the condition getting serious.
Sadly, many still assume that the COVID-19 in town is the variant that was known last year when it first came into Nigeria. Because of this assumption, many believe that there is no need to be careful about getting infected. I was in the South-East in August and early September for some events. I noticed that churches were packed full with only the few visitors or returnees wearing face masks.
Funerals or marriages were also packed full with many not wearing face masks. Some masters of ceremonies (MCs) actually ridiculed the few of us who wore masks and told us to remove them as COVID-19 was no longer in Nigeria. Those who don’t like being different in a crowd removed their masks.
Sadly again, the challenge is not just that many people have not been vaccinated but have refused to get vaccinated because of the conspiracy theories spread through the social media and word of mouth about the upper arm of vaccinated people creating a magnetic pull or making an electric bulb come alive. Many have said that the COVID-19 vaccination is to reduce the population of the world.
Ironically, medical experts have stated that vaccination is the most certain measure against the Delta variant of COVID-19, which is more transmissible than the common cold and influenza, as well as the viruses that cause smallpox, MERS, SARS, and Ebola. Virtually, all hospitalisations and deaths have been noted to be among the unvaccinated.
Because the Delta variant is not only deadlier but also faster to spread, it is virtually impossible to avoid being infected one time or the other. With vaccination, the chances of being adversely affected are low. Therefore, there will be no need to use oxygen or ventilator or to deposit about N10m in one fell swoop before getting treated. Even with the deposit of N10m, chances of survival once in the ICU are usually said to be 50-50.
I have taken the first dose of the vaccine. I should take the second dose this week or next. Despite all the conspiracy theories, I have asked myself how countries of Europe, the Americas, Asia and Oceania would decide to destroy their citizens with a vaccine. It sounds irrational and illogical. We took some vaccines as children. Why didn’t they destroy us? I wonder why I should make myself the only wise person in the world and refuse to be vaccinated.
If you have not been vaccinated, please go to the nearest health centre to do so. It may save your life and save your loved ones some heartache. All the top countries of the world cannot be foolish at the same time to the extent of destroying their citizens over some vaccines produced by private companies.
• Onwuka is a newspaper columnist and author.