Coronavirus

Claim: A photo purported to be a CNN live bulletin claims that hospitals are on lockdown as first vaccinated COVID-19 patients have started eating other patients. 

False. The photo making the claims is fabricated and has been online since at least February 2019 – before the COVID-19 pandemic and was in relation to an emergency room of a hospital that had a teenager who was shot. CNN has made no such reports of hospitals on lockdown due to COVID-19 vaccine patients eating other patients.

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Following the roll out of COVID-19 vaccination by a number of countries including Ghana to help reduce the transmission of COVID-19, a photo of what appears to be a surgical ward with blood spills is circulating on social media in Ghana and elsewhere with an accompanying allegation that hospitals are on lockdown as the first vaccinated COVID-19 patients have started eating other patients. This photo is purported to be from a CNN live broadcast. 

The photo shared by a Ghanaian-based Twitter user, who humorously added that by June we will start fighting zombies, is shown below:

Verification

Through a Google Reverse Search, Dubawa uncovered that the photo was originally shared by New York times on February 14th, 2019, before the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. The actual narrative around the photo tells the tragic shooting of a teenager who later died at the emergency department of Temple University Teaching hospital after efforts to resuscitate him failed. 

The image was hence, a depiction of the emergency room the teenager died in. 

The original image as shared by the New York Times on February 14th, 2019

Though the claimant took nothing out of the photo, it was observed that there was, however, a deliberate effort to alter the image quality so it can perfectly fit into the purported narrative.  Thus, when Dubawa analysed the claimant’s version of the photo on Forensically, results show massive noise proliferation on the image. It was deliberately filtered to be blurry and cloudy so that it can  fit into the fabricated CNN frame. 

Image 1

Image 1 shows the result of analysis carried out on the claimant’s purported image.  Assessed on the noise amplitude level of 55% and the Opacity level 0.54%, findings reveal the blurry and hazy shade of noise added to the photo as rather traced in image 2 below. 

Image 2

Image 2 shows the results of analysis carried out on the original image. Also assessed on the noise amplitude level of 55% and the Opacity level 0.54%, findings reveal a level of clarity and transparency as compared to image 1. 

A closer look at image one and two reveals the obvious differences between the two pictures. Even more, other multiple images are taken out of context; and their quality altered just to be forced into another different narrative, such as in this case, to mislead unsuspecting members of the public. 

Additionally, there is no identified report online of CNN making such claims of a hospital’s lockdown because of alleged first vaccinated COVID-19 patients starting to eat other patients. Rather, what was found, was an application that facilitated such misleading content. The application, Media Photo Frames;  Breaking News App Photo Editor, allows for users of the application to fabricate any story as breaking news to be attributed to the available media frames. 

Furthermore, the claim making rounds on Ghanaian social media space was found to have also circulated on other platforms across the world in December last year. This has consequently been debunked by several fact-checking platforms such as Times of India,  India Today, and AFP already. 

Conclusion 

The photo purporting that first vaccinated COVID-19 patients have started to eat other patients is false. The photo first circulated before the pandemic and is originally from a report in February 2019 showing an emergency department of Temple University Teaching hospital’s attempts to resuscitate a shot teenager. CNN has made no such reports of hospitals on lockdown due to COVID-19 vaccine patients eating other patients .

Nigeria will on Tuesday receive the first batch of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccines through COVAX, the global sharing programme designed to make vaccine access more equal.

Because it is cheap – costs less than two bottles of beer – easy to make and store, AstraZeneca is regarded the most suitable for developing countries like Nigeria.

According to Faisal Shuaib, the executive director of the NPHCDA, the agency at centre of the vaccine rollout plan for Nigeria, approximately 4 million doses will land in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital Tuesday at 11 a.m. making the west African nation the third country to receive jabs from COVAX.

Ghana was the first country to benefit from the programme after receiving 600,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccines last Wednesday followed by Ivory Coast that took delivery of over 500, 000 doses last Friday.

At least 92 low and middle-income countries will receive free vaccines through COVAX, a WHO vaccine-sharing initiative.

With the arrival of the 4 million doses, Nigeria is currently the biggest benefactor of the initiative in the first phase. The West African nation is expecting a total 16 million jabs that will come in four phases.

The facility promised access to vaccines for up to 20 per cent of participating countries’ population with an initial supply beginning in the first quarter of the year to immunise three per cent of their populations.

With several concerns raised about the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine, here are nine things you should know about.

1. What is the origin?

The vaccine was developed by British firm AstraZeneca, working in partnership with Oxford University. It is however manufactured under license by the Serum Institute in India.

The jab was the second to be approved by the independent Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).

AstraZeneca said it expects to be able to manufacture about three billion doses of its vaccine worldwide in 2021.

The vaccine is “virus-vectored”, meaning it is a version of a virus that normally infects chimpanzees and has been modified with a portion of the COVID-19 coronavirus called the “spike protein” to fire the immune system.

Once in human cells, the vaccine should help stimulate the production of antibodies that will resist COVID-19.

2. Why was it rejected by South Africa?

South Africa had initially ordered about 1.5 million doses of Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine but they were rejected after it was said to provide insufficient protection against the new COVID-19 variant in country, 501Y.V2, according to local health platform, Bhekisisa.

The AstraZeneca jab only provides about 10 per cent protection against mild to moderate COVID-19 disease caused the South African variant, the Bhekisisa reported. This is way below the World Health Organisation (WHO) recommended 50 per cent protection.

This added to the safety concerns raised about the Oxford vaccines.

“South Africa discovered that these vaccines had some weaknesses in protecting their own variant which is quite peculiar,” Nigeria’s health minister, Osagie Ehanire said last week.

“Now we turn to WHO and asked, what do we do? They said well, if you don’t have the South African variant you can use it”, the official explained. “We don’t have that variant meaning we can use it”, he said.

The vaccine is “safe and effective”, according to data published by the Lancet medical journal on December 8. Only one of the 23,754 volunteers who participated in the trials experienced “possibly-related severe side effects”.

3. Can it protect against other variants?

The new variant detected in the UK in September and dubbed “lineage B.1.1.7” has also been found in Nigeria.

It was identified by scientists at the Africa Centre of Excellence for Genomics of Infectious Diseases (ACEGID) in Osun state in August and September when the first two samples were collected.

Nigeria has now confirmed at least 30 cases of the B.1.1.7 variant raising concerns on whether the AstraZeneca vaccines would be efficacious against it.

As viruses mutate and give rise to new variants, this can affect how well certain vaccines work against them.

The AstraZeneca vaccine proved effective against mild to moderate cases from the so-called U.K. variant, according to early data from researchers at the University of Oxford writing in a pre-print not yet reviewed by The Lancet.

Vaccine efficacy was 74.9 per cent (95 per cent CI 41.6-88.9) after two doses against symptomatic infection from the B.1.1.7 variant, the phase II/III trials of research showed.

Interestingly, both the UK and South African variants have the same mutation — the N501Y mutation — but the south African variant has an additional mutation, E484K.

Research shows this mutation contributes to the virus evading antibodies from COVID-19 patients against SARS-CoV-2.

4. Can it protect against infection transmission?

Emerging data for the AstraZeneca vaccine in the Lancet preprint revealed that the jab is most likely to block transmission after a single dose.

The researchers derived this data by taking weekly nose swabs from both symptomatic and asymptomatic cases and testing for the presence of the virus. They observed a 67% fall in swabs positive for the virus after one immunisation.

In a separate preprint, people who received the AstraZeneca vaccine and were swab positive showed reduced periods of viral shedding, which could also have a positive impact on transmission of disease.

This data suggests the AstraZeneca vaccine also has potential to substantially affect virus transmission, by reducing the number of highly infectious people in a population.

5. How cheap is it?

The Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine has the major advantages of being inexpensive, costing about £2.50 per dose, according to AFP.

This makes it ideal for large-scale vaccination programmes hence the reason it was COVAX choice.

6. How can it be stored and distributed?

One key characteristic of this vaccine is that it can be kept at normal refrigerator temperatures of between two and eight degrees Celsius making it the most suitable for developing country such as Nigeria.

By contrast, the Moderna vaccine needs to be stored at -20C, while the Pfizer/BioNTech product must be kept at -70C and needs ultra-modern freezers which is very costly and high in demand.

The AstraZeneca vaccine can be widely distributed with relative ease.

Additionally, AstraZeneca has multiple supply chains. Around the world, they have multiple manufacturing sites and partners from whom to source ingredients, and distributors who can deploy the vaccine.

7. Timing of doses

Will a person be protected already after one immunisation, while waiting for the second boosting jab?

The Lancelot preprint study showed the vaccine has 76 per cent efficacy after a single dose, when assessed over the first 90 days after vaccination.

In initial studies, the vaccine’s efficacy was 62 per cent with two standard doses. However, there was some variability depending on the dosage and timing.

Since then, scientists have asked questions about the optimal dose and interval. A preprint manuscript in The Lancet shows the vaccine demonstrated 82.4 per cent efficacy after two standard doses three months apart.

8. Is it safe for people that are 65 and above?

Another major concern scientists are raising about AstraZeneca is on how safe the vaccines are on older people.

Researchers in the United States have noted that the preliminary results from the most promising trial of the vaccines are not clear and did not reflect data from older people, the NewYork Times reported.

Also, Germany’s Handelsblatt Newspaper reported that the vaccines were largely ineffective in people aged over 65 although AstraZeneca top managers described the report as “completely incorrect”.

Official data published days later would help undermine the report – attributed to German officials and further exposing the brewing political conflict between the vaccine makers and some European countries, according to Financial Times.

In the Phase 2 human trials, the vaccine was found to be safe, showing just some mild and moderate reactions, and it induced similar immune responses across age groups.

9. Any other side effect?

There was a key mistake in the vaccine dosage received by some study participants, adding to questions about whether the vaccine’s apparently spectacular efficacy will hold up under additional testing, the NewYork Times reported.

Scientists and industry experts said the error and a series of other irregularities and omissions in the way AstraZeneca initially disclosed the data have eroded their confidence in the reliability of the results.

The British laboratory announced in interim findings in November that its vaccine was on average 70 per cent effective, compared with more than 90 per cent for Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna.

The efficacy of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine was 90 per cent for volunteers who first received only a half-dose and then a full dose one month later, but only 62% for another group that was vaccinated with two full doses one month apart.

The injection of a half-dose was conducted by accident, raising criticism over the robustness of the results and prompting the company to announce on November 26 that an “additional study” would be held into the efficacy of the reduced dosage.

This article is a republished content from PREMIUM TIMES per our Dubawa 2020 Fellowship partnership with newsrooms and media organisations.

The global pandemic which broke out in Wuhan China in December 2019 has on March 1, 2021, affected 219 Countries around the world with a total of 114,872,386 confirmed cases and a death toll of 2,546,807. Nigeria is not left out as it recorded its first case in February 2020. So far, Nigeria has recorded more than 155,000 cases and over 1,900 deaths.

Vaccine efforts

Since the emergence of vaccines, at least seven different vaccines across three platforms have been rolled out in many countries. Outside this, there are more than 200 vaccines being developed, of which more than 60 are in the clinical stage.

To curb the spread of the virus, the Nigerian government has been making efforts to purchase and make available coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccines in the 1st Quarter of 2021. The government has announced that it is expecting 16 million doses of the Astrazeneca vaccine through the COVID-19 Vaccines Global Assess Facility (COVAX), a World Health Organisation-backed programme set-up to divide about two billion doses of vaccines across 92 low-and middle-income countries. Four million doses of these vaccines were announced to arrive Tuesday March 2, 2021. 

Nigeria’s vaccination strategy

On Monday, the ministry of health launched the T.E.A.C.H strategy for COVID-19 vaccination. This was announced on Twitter by the ministry of health and NPHCDA.

According to the health ministry, the T.E.A.C.H is an acronym for a five-point strategy developed by the vaccination implementation arm of the Ministry of Health out of the many years of vaccination implementation experience in Nigeria.

The

T in the acronym stands for Traditional Vaccination Campaign Approach,

E for Electronic Self-Registration by Eligible Nigerians,

A for Assisted Electronic Registration of Eligible Nigerians,

C for Concomitant Vaccination alongside Electronic Registration

H for House-to-House Electronic Registration.

The vaccine rollout will be in four phases, starting with frontline health workers and strategic leadership, followed by people 50 years and above with priority given to people with comorbidities, then people between the age of 18 -49 years with comorbidities, and the rest of the eligible population (people between 18 years to 49 years without comorbidities).

What is Comorbidities?

Comorbidities is the presence of two or more conditions occurring in a person, either at the same time, or successively (right after the other). 

Conditions described as comorbidities are often long-term (chronic) conditions like diabetes, obesity, mental illness, high blood pressure etc.

How to register for vaccination

To register for vaccination, visit the NPHCDA website and click on COVID-19  Vaccination E-registration. You can also call 0803 123 0415 and 0803 123 0416 for more information. 

The portal known as the Electronic Management of Immunization Data (EMID) registration portal is the registration platform of the Federal Ministry of Health for COVID 19 Vaccination. This portal captures your data and schedules you for COVID 19 vaccination.

The registration form requires you to answer 14 questions in 14 fields. The first is your name, followed by your contact phone number, email address, date of birth (if it is known or unknown), sex, your type of Identification, residential address, your state of residence, Local Government Area (LGA) of residence, Ward of residence, preferred date of vaccination, preferred time of vaccination, a photo of your (face only), if you work in the health sector, your allergy history and a 3 digit number to be entered after which you submit.

Some Nigerians have jumped on the train and gotten themselves a date for vaccination starting with Mrs Osindeinde Ademilayo Abodede, a frontline health care professional whose registration was announced by NPHCDA’s on Twitter.

Another person with registration for vaccination is, Bashir Ahmed,  the personal assistant to the president on digital and new media, made known his registration on Twitter.

Screenshot of Bashir Ahmed’s Tweet.

Claim: A certain news report claims Israel has invented an inhaler that can cure COVID-19  within just five (5) days. 

The report that Israel has invented an inhaler that cures COVID-19 in just five days is rather exaggerated and misleading. Facts gathered show the medicine is only in its first phase of trials and an immune booster that aids to  alleviate the condition of  COVID-19 patients. Hence, this claim is misleading. 

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When the novel COVID-19 virus slipped off the borders of China and made its way to almost all parts of the world spitting fire and taking lives alongside, one thing that became crucial was the demand for a cure. A vaccine that will remedy the ravaging virus and curtail its spread. 

Israel and Pfizer agreement

Subsequently, the breakthrough was attained, a vaccine was developed and plans on how to partition it into nations became the next discourse.  Pfizer, the American-based pharmaceutical company that has also developed a vaccine has been putting up efforts to produce vaccines that will meet up the surging demands. Courtesy of Pfizer’s early success in creating a vaccine, Israel, was reported last month in January to have sprinted ahead and struck a deal with Pfizer to secure doses in exchange for medical data. The agreement was officially attained and on February 11th, after the Pfizer COVID-19 was delivered the Times of Israel reported that an Israeli healthcare provider that has vaccinated half a million people with both doses of the Pfizer vaccine has attested that no one has died afterward. 

The claim

Nonetheless, not too long after this avalanche of events has unfolded, a certain news site (Worldtopnewsng.com) claimed that Israel has invented an inhaler that can cure COVID-19 in just 5 days. The claim and the information it purports reappeared again on a Facebook page and was further featured on another news site with the exact details. The alleged news report of the COVID-19 cure further noted that “In Israel, professor Nadri Aber has invented a miracle inhaler which can cure COVID-19 in just five days.

His inhaler has an efficacy of 96 percent, with 29 of the 30 patients who tried it at the Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Centre recovering rapidly from the virus and leaving the hospital between three and five days. Only one inhalation was enough to fight off the virus, even with more serious cases.

Nadir himself described it as an “unprecedented invention” after seeing the results.“It is an innovative device based on exosomes enriched in CD24 that can be inhaled directly into the lungs”. 

As more researchers are still searching to find out a more potent remedy for the Coronavirus, this information, if reliable, will create fresh hopes for curing the virus. However, if it’s untrue, it has the ability to mislead people and even lure people into perceiving inhalers as cures for COVID-19. It is in the light of such  reality that DUBAWA delves into unearthing the certainty of the claim. 

Verification

First off, DUBAWA confirmed the existence of the drug in question. Termed as EXO-CD24 inhaler treatment, the drug was developed by Prof Nadir Arber at the Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center (Ichilov Hospital), where it was tested on 30 patients with moderate-to-severe condition, all of whom recovered 29 within just 3-5 days. It is administered through inhalation, once a day, in a procedure that takes only a few minutes, for five days. The EXO-CD24 is not a COVID-19 cure itself but rather a treatment that will boost the immune system and help COVID-19 patients to regain consciousness.   This information was verified by   Dr. Shiran Shapira, Head of Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical center, and Dr. Arber’s director of the laboratory who has studied the CD24 protein for decades. She explained this in a video interview where she was being questioned as regards the EXO-CD24 inhaler treatment.

Dr. Shapira explained that the treatment “is based on an exosome that the body is releasing from the cell membrane and used for intercellular communication. So we enrich the exosome with the 24CD protein, which is known to play an important role in regulating the immune system. This helps to prevent the deterioration of the patient.” As regards the drug being a COVID-19 cure, she explained that “the drug moderates severe conditions and our intervention is in order to prevent the deterioration of the patient, the need for ventilation and even death. If someone is already under ventilators, it will be too late for treatment. So it is not a cure but a treatment to alleviate the patient’s condition.”  She added that, “our goal is not to target the virus itself but to treat the immune system.”

As regards the availability of the medicine, she explained that the medicine is only in its phase one trial but will subsequently be subjected to phase two and then three.

Furthermore, an examination of Dr. Shapira’s interview shows that the claimant’s news report lacks details and was scant in its presentation of the matter.    

DUBAWA has also reached out to Dr. Shiran Shapira for more details about the medicine and her response will be updated as soon as it’s received.  

Conclusion

EXO-CD24 inhaler is not an apex cure for COVID-19. However, it is a treatment that helps to boost the immune system of a  COVID-19 patient and alleviate the condition. Hence, the report that Israel has invented an inhaler that cures COVID-19 in days is rather exaggerated and misleading. 

Claim: A Twitter post shared on Facebook claims breast milk neutralises the virus (SARs-CoV-2) causing COVID-19.

It is true that the virus causing COVID-19 is not found in human breast milk, and the antibodies present in the breast milk make it effective against the virus.

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With the global spread of coronavirus, concerns over mother-to-child transmission especially via breastfeeding have been raised. While some studies have reported the presence of SARs-CoV-2 in human breast milk, others  report that SARs-CoV-2 was not found in the breast milk.

Recently a Facebook user Sadiq Alabi shared the screenshot of a Twitter post made by Karleen Gribble (@DrKarleenG) on Wednesday, February 10, 2021. This screenshot in the Twitter post had gathered 574 retweets, 408 quotes and 673 likes of claims that the breast milk of COVID patients neutralises SARs-CoV-2 .

According to Dr Karleen’s Twitter post, the breast milk of mothers with COVID-19 do not contain SARs-CoV-2 but its antibodies.

“Milk of mothers with COVID-19 did not contain any SARS-CoV-2 but did contain SARS-CoV-2 antibodies. When SARS-CoV-2 was added to the milk of women with COVID-19 it was neutralised by the milk.”

Excerpt of Twitter post content.

Verification

Dubawa traced the Twitter account in the screenshot shared on Facebook. Dubawa found Karleen Gribble’s page on Twitter @DrKarleenG and noted from her bio that she is an adjunct associate professor at the Western Sydney University with interests in infant feeding, child trauma, foster care and adoption. 

Dubawa found the original Twitter post on her page with 1,023 followers.

The post as of Thursday, February 11, 2021, had 2,320 retweets, 1,355 quote tweets and 3,137 likes.

Dubawa followed the link attached to the tweet which led to a study by Bio, an open-access journal published by the American Society for Microbiology.

The study titled “Characterization of SARS-CoV-2 RNA, Antibodies, and Neutralizing Capacity in Milk Produced by Women with COVID-19” noted its findings detected SARS-CoV-2 RNA in milk produced by women with mild-to-moderate COVID-19 and that the milk contains anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies and that their concentrations are correlated with the milk’s ability to effectively neutralize SARS-CoV-2 infectivity.

Dubawa also went ahead to study different documents by the World Health Organisation (WHO) on COVID-19 and breastfeeding. The WHO noted in its reports that till date, the SARs-CoV-2 has not been detected in breast milk.

A video on safe breastfeeding by the WHO in partnership with Partnership for Maternal Newborn & Child Health (PMNC) can be found here.

Also, the Center for Disease Control and Preventions (CDC) supports, noting that breastfeeding mothers with COVID-19 should wash their hands using soap and water or use hand sanitiser with at least 60% alcohol before touching their child or expressing breast milk either by hand or with a breast pump, wear a mask when they are less than 6 feet from the child (including when feeding at the breast or feeding from a bottle) and when expressing breast milk either by hand or with a breast pump and clean and sanitise breast pumps if expressing breast milk through a breast pump.

Conclusion

It is true that the virus causing COVID-19 is not found in breast milk because  the antibodies present in breast milk neutralise the virus. The WHO and CDC have noted that current evidence shows breast milk is not a likely source of infection. 

However, it is noteworthy that the study and the WHO pointed out that COVID-19 is a new disease and the available  fact is based on limited studies. This observation means the facts may change as health officials and researchers continue to learn more about how the virus spreads and what kind of risks it poses to infants whose mothers have the disease.

Claim: PDP claims Nigeria is disqualified by WHO from the list of nations to receive the COVID-19 vaccine.

The information provided by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) that Nigeria is disqualified by WHO from receiving the COVID-19 vaccine is not true. The WHO communications officer confirmed the information as false. 

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The novel COVID-19 pandemic  came with an overpowering novelty that even advanced nations were overwhelmed by its pressing flanks. Even experts in virology seemed to have flunked out of ideas at the early stage of the pandemic. However, so much improvement  was  subsequently made especially  in discovering precautionary ways to curtail the spread of the virus and the development of a vaccine. 

This improvement, primarily as regards the actualization of a COVID-19 vaccine, has within the past months steered multiple news reports on how countries will acquire  the COVID-19 vaccine. In January 2021,  Governor Kayode Fayemi, head of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum, said “Nigeria is among 12 countries in Africa that have indicated the readiness of the 92 qualified countries for the facility and will by the end of February 2021 receive its first shipment of vaccines,” Fayemi said. 

However, a recent claim seems to dispute Mr. Fayemi’s assertions. On Twitter, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), a strong opposition party to the ruling party, All Progressives Congress (APC), claims Nigeria is disqualified by WHO from the list of nations to receive the COVID-19 vaccine. The claimants affirmed that the incidence was due to  the inability of President Buhari’s administration to provide a simple storage facility for the vaccine. 

The claim was tweeted as a thread alongside a version of the same tweet in   a press statement copy. 

The outlined message in the press release  and the tweet boils down to the acclaimed failure of the present government to provide a COVID-19 storage facility. However, Yusuf Yunusa(@yyunusa) inquired that  “Who is the handler of these fake news spreaders?” While also implying that the information is false. DUBAWA examined multiple information about  COVID-19 vaccines that both had an element of truth and lie. However, one thing that is  apparent is the ability of such information to garner people’s attention and if false, easily mislead them. This situation encouraged DUBAWA to uncover the truth in this information. 

Verification

DUBAWA reached out to Kate Ribet, Communications Officer COVID-19 Vaccine Rollout, WHO Regional Office for Africa who replied via an email. On the question of WHO’s disqualification of Nigeria for the COVID-19 vaccine, she clarified that “WHO  has not disqualified any country in Africa from accessing COVID-19 vaccines through the COVAX facility, but rather the organisation is supporting all countries to access vaccines as quickly as possible.

Currently, all countries on the continent are expected to start accessing the AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccines by the end of February. The vaccine is under review by WHO for Emergency Use Listing and the outcome is expected soon.

Of the 88 million AstraZeneca doses allocated to African countries for the first phase, Nigeria has received by far the largest allocation, with 16 million doses.”

She further explained:

“In addition to the Astra Zeneca doses, there is an initial limited volume of Pfizer vaccine available through COVAX. Demand for the initial allocation of 1.2 million Pfizer doses was exceptionally high. COVAX received interest from 72 countries around the world, of which 51 countries were considered by the review committee as “ready” (Nigeria was among these countries) and 18 countries in total were finally chosen to receive initial Pfizer doses. On the Africa continent, as of the 18 January deadline, COVAX received 13 submissions, of which 9 were recommended as ready to deploy the Pfizer vaccine and the list includes Nigeria.

Regarding the delay in supply of the vaccine to Nigeria, she said:

“Unfortunately, it was not feasible to provide each of these 51 countries with Pfizer doses, due to a number of factors including the limited capacity for Pfizer to handle many countries at once. Therefore, spreading the limited doses across all the 51 countries deemed ‘ready’ could not have achieved the intended public health benefit.  After epidemiological self-financing to account, the decision was taken to proportionally balance the number of self-financing and AMC Participants, as well as Participants across all 6 WHO regions.”

Her response indicates that Nigeria is not disqualified from countries that will receive the COVID-19 vaccine and in fact, the country is only waiting for its turn. 

Conclusion 

The information provided by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) that Nigeria is disqualified by WHO from receiving the COVID-19 vaccine is not true. The World Health Organization’s communications officer confirmed the information as false. 

Claim: Video and audio have surfaced about students fleeing for the fear of the COVID-19 Vaccine in Lagos.

The video is 2 years old and is linked to an incident in Port-Harcourt when a secondary school student detonated tear-gas. It has nothing to do with COVID-19.

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On Wednesday, 3rd February 2021, a short video surfaced online, accompanied by a voice note. The video showed a pandemonium; students running out of their classrooms, jumping from the storey building and fleeing the school premises. The voice behind the camera was only screaming “Jesus” in the 28seconds-long video.

The video was accompanied by a voice note in Hausa. The voice note claimed that the students are running for the fear of being injected with the COVID19 Vaccine.

“They are running because the COVID19 Vaccine injection is to be tested on them,” he said, before continuing that “The Britons who created the COVID19 Vaccine tested it on 1,000 people, 600 died. So they decided to test it on Black people, that’s why they are in Lagos,” he said.

With WhatsApp being a private platform, it is impossible to get the number of views or reach the video and voice note have attained. However, a forwarded label created by WhatsApp was stamped on the video and audio, which showed that the sender himself did not create it. He/she received it and forwarded it.

With WhatsApp widely regarded as the ‘abode of fake news’, this message has the potential of already spreading farther than we can imagine.

Verification

A Quick Search using InVid Verification tool, pointed us to the full Video on YouTube, posted on May 27th, 2019 and Facebook posted on May 25th, 2019. 

Both Videos, 1:43seconds-long and 1:00minutes-long on YouTube and Facebook respectively, have the same caption, albeit constructed in different ways. The captions revealed that a secondary school student brought tear-gas to school, which was detonated, causing the pandemonium.

“An SS2 boy in Port Harcourt brought a teargas gun and dynamite to fight SS3 students” the caption on YouTube states, while the one posted on Facebook reads “An SS2 student of CSS secondary sch. Oroworokwu, port Harcourt, on the 24th of May, brought guns and grenade teargas for a class fight between SS2 students and SS3 students. Why showing it off to his classmates, he unknowingly detonated one of the grenade teargas, And all Hell broke loose!!”

Another search of the school where the incident was said to have happened, ‘CSS Secondary School, Oroworokwu, Port Harcourt, River State’, also pointed to several media reports, confirming the incident.

On the 25th May, 2019, PMNews posted the same video on its website with the headline, ‘Incredible video: Pandemonium in Rivers School as student detonates teargas in class’.

The story was also featured on the Leadership newspaper here, and on the BBC Pidgin, here.

A few days later, Rivers State Government launched a probe into the matter, as reported by the Leadership Newspaper.

COVID-19 Vaccine

Several criticisms and conspiracy theories have trailed the announcement of the development of the COVID19 Vaccine in various countries, and especially when the Nigerian Government disclosed plans to get and vaccinate Nigerians.

At the onset of the COVID-19’s spread, there were conspiracy theories linking the virus to the 5G Technology, a claim severally debunked.

Conclusion

False. The Claim that the students are running from the fear of being injected with a COVID-19 Vaccine is false. The said Video is two years old, and it’s a video depicting a tear-gas detonation in May, 2019, in Port-Harcourt, Rivers State, Nigeria.

The researcher produced this fact-check per the Dubawa 2020 Fellowship partnership with Vision FM to facilitate the ethos of “truth” in journalism and enhance media literacy in the country.

Claim: a viral WhatsApp message claims that non-respiratory symptoms such as loss of appetite, abdominal pain, diarrhea, confusion, bitter taste, dry mouth, eye problems, giddiness, and even skin changes could also be symptoms of COVID-19.

The claim that non-respiratory symptoms such as loss of appetite, abdominal pain, diarrhea, confusion, bitter taste, dry mouth, eye problems, giddiness, and even skin changes could also be symptoms of COVID-19 is true. Outline symptoms of COVID-19 from the WHO and other new studies support the claim. 

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For some COVID-19 patients, the symptoms started with difficulty in breathing; for others, it was severe coughing while others complained about the loss of smell and taste. Whatever the case may be, the mutations with the COVID-19 virus have transited into a major battle for health officials around the world. While the symptom of COVID-19 is usually linked to coughing and other respiratory symptoms, the transformation in the virus itself seems to breed an enormous need for fresh concern. 

Alarmingly, Dr. Soumya Swaminathan of the World health organization even affirmed some changes with the nature of the virus: 

“From the beginning of the year, we’ve been tracking this virus and we know that it’s gone through a lot of changes and there’ve been variants before. Now this particular time there have been two particular variants that have been reported to WHO. One was identified in the UK and one was identified in South Africa. They do have one change in common, we call it the N501Y mutation. But otherwise, the two are different. And the reason there’s a concern is that both of these variants were associated with an increase in the number of cases in both of these countries. And scientists have now studied this and have found that these variants do tend to spread faster, they’re more transmissible or more infectious.” 

Amidst this surging tension are also diverse information about new spectra for COVID-19 symptoms. Chiefly amongst such is a message making rounds on WhatsApp. The information claims that non-respiratory symptoms such as loss of appetite, abdominal pain, diarrhea, confusion, bitter taste, dry mouth, eye problems, giddiness, and implies that almost any symptoms of illness will require one to take a COVID-19 test. Finally, the message beckoned on readers to wear a facemask. 

In its entirety, the message outlines that:  

“Hello Family,

On a more serious note, whatever you must do to protect yourself from COVID please do!

Covid is starting to take an unpredictable shape, and many Physicians are likely to miss a diagnosis. What has always looked like regular, unsuspecting conditions now turn out positive COVID cases.  You’d present with what seems like Malaria, Typhoid Fever, Stress; be managed accordingly only to return later with a severe form of Covid. 

Fever and cough, which used to be classical manifestations are now missing in complaints of many presenting patients. We’re having patients report with non-respiratory symptoms such as loss of appetite, abdominal pain, diarrhea, confusion, bitter taste, dry mouth, eye problems, giddiness, and even skin changes. 

COVID doesn’t look like COVID anymore!

These unusual symptoms will make clinical diagnosis more difficult. So almost any symptom you report to the hospital with, may require you to take a COVID test — your finances could be getting strained! 

The virus keeps changing in form and manifestation. But the prevention has not changed. Please, wear a mask!”

COVID-19, like most other prominent issues, has attracted a massive influx of diverse information. On the other, the other hand, the multiplicity of such information has caused confusion and even arguments amongst members of the public. Especially with the case of hydroxychloroquine as COVID-19 cure and other mythical claims. It’s as a result of this reality that DUBAWA subjects this information to scrutiny. 

Verification

DUBAWA first reached out to  Dr Jean Baptiste NIKIEMA, Regional Adviser, Essential Medicines at WHO Africa Regional Office in Brazzaville who, though yet to reply, referred us to the WHO website for more detailed information through Ms. Charity, the WHO communication officer. Conformingly, the details found in the website aligns with that of the claim.  The World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed all the outlined   COVID-19 symptoms, according to WHO the virus affects different people in different ways. Most infected people will develop mild to moderate illness and recover without hospitalization. It categorised the symptoms into three, which also coincides  with the claimant’s proposition. 

Most common symptoms:

Fever, dry cough, tiredness. 

Less common symptoms:

Aches and pains, sore throat, diarrhoea, conjunctivitis , headache, loss of taste or smell, a rash on skin, or discolouration of fingers or toes.

Serious symptoms:

Difficulty breathing or shortness of breath chest pain or pressure loss of speech or movement.

In the same context, the Center for Disease Control (CDC) signalled   new symptoms that also aligns with the claimants viral WhatsApp message. It explained that:

“People with COVID-19 have had a wide range of symptoms reported – ranging from mild symptoms to severe illness. Symptoms may appear 2-14 days after exposure to the virus. People with these symptoms may have COVID-19:

• Fever or chills
• Cough
• Shortness of breath or difficulty breathing
• Fatigue
• Muscle or body aches
• Headache
• New loss of taste or smell
• Sore throat
• Congestion or runny nose
• Nausea or vomiting
• Diarrhea

 The Centre further stressed that: “This list does not include all possible symptoms. CDC will continue to update this list as we learn more about COVID-19.”

Following  a recent interview with Dr. Frank McGeorge from the Center for Disease Control CDC, COVID-19 is also producing symptoms of diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, and appetite loss in a number of patients young and old. He added that “A recent study out of Stanford University School of Medicine found that nearly one-third of 116 patients infected with the coronavirus reported mild gastrointestinal (GI) symptoms. While earlier reports showed that among roughly 200 patients in China, more than half experienced diarrhea, nausea or vomiting.” The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has also acknowledged gastrointestinal GI issues on its list of COVID-19 warning signs.

Dr. Frank stressed that “There’s no question at this point that GI symptoms can be a manifestation of COVID-19,  oftentimes these symptoms can come on even in the absence of the more typical and recognized markers of coronavirus infection, such as fever and cough”.

As regards other indicators such as   dizziness, headache, and confusion. A study conducted by the chief of neuro-infectious diseases at Northwestern Medicine in Chicago found that:

“About 4 out of 5 patients hospitalized with Covid-19 suffer neurologic symptoms such as muscle pain, headaches, confusion, dizziness, and the loss of smell or taste, new research shows.”

This finding is also similar to another study conducted by the John Hopkins Novel Coronavirus Research Compendium (NCRC)  found that neurological manifestations such as the one in headaches, dizziness, confusion, etc.  were present in 42 percent of patients at the onset of COVID-19 symptoms and in 82 percent of patients at any time during the disease course.

For older adults, in particular, these neurological effects can be just as devastating as the pulmonary impacts of coronavirus infection. They can also be easily overlooked or dismissed as dementia or other diseases common with age, the study outlined.

Conclusion 

New studies and findings have confirmed that non-respiratory symptoms such as loss of appetite, abdominal pain, diarrhea, confusion, bitter taste, dry mouth, eye problems, giddiness, and even skin changes could also be symptoms of COVID-19. 

Claim: a viral message making rounds on WhatsApp claims that the World Health Organisation (WHO) has approved a COVID-19 herbal remedy discovered by a certain Indian student.

The claim that WHO has approved a COVID-19 herbal remedy with black pepper powder, ginger juice, and honey as ingredients is false and misleading. The claim is refuted by WHO and experts have confirmed the ingredients as insufficient and impotent to be termed a cure for COVID-19.

Full text 

The  Novel COVID-19 virus has forged a new spectrum in society. A new normal that has overhauled what used to be normal, to now be totally abnormal. Yet amidst this avalanche of unusual scenery is also an influx of diverse claims regarding cures, and remedies for COVID-19. These claims are most often predominant on social media, suggesting strategies and diagnosis for the virus.  

Evenmore, the fear and anxiety COVID-19 instills, seem to make people susceptible to such information and enthusiastic in sharing  such information to their loved ones, online community groups and colleagues, etc. Though some of these heralded messages hold some shreds of truth, most of them turn out to be misleading. 

In this instance, a viral WhatsApp message claims that the World Health Organization (WHO) has approved a COVID-19 herbal remedy that was discovered by Ramu, a certain Indian  student from the Pondicherry University. The claim posits that the herbal remedy is the first of its kind to be approved by the WHO with 100% efficacy confirmed. It further beckoned on users to distribute the information to “friends and family”.

The message read:

“COVID -19 HERBAL SOLUTION JUST IN.

Finally, an INDIAN student from PONDICHERRY University, named RAMU, found a home remedy for Covid-19 which is for the first time accepted by the World health organization( WHO.)

  – He proved that by adding 1 tablespoon of black pepper powder to 2 tablespoons of honey and ginger juice for 5 consecutive days, it would remove the effects of the covid-19  And finally disappear 100%

  – The whole world is beginning to accept this remedy.  Finally good news in 2021 !!

PLEASE DISTRIBUTE THIS INFORMATION TO ALL OF YOUR FAMILY MEMBERS AND FRIENDS.

Efficacy is 100% confirmed.”

In recent times, DUBAWA has debunked multiple claims and myths about the COVID-19 cure. In one instance, a post on Facebook announced that the National Agency For Food and Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has approved the PaxHerbal-remedy as a treatment for COVID-19. Yet after some analysis was carried out, we discovered it was a hoax. Also, several such messages with claims about natural home remedies having the ability to cure COVID-19 have been making  rounds since the pandemic broke. However, as before, none of these have been proved to be effective in curing COVID-19.

Significantly, the timely and sufficient scrutiny of such claims is vital in directing and guarding unsuspecting members of the public on the right practices to inculcate as regards the virus and the access to fact-based information that directly relates to their health and general well being. It is as regards this need that DUBAWA subjects the claim to scrutiny, to uncover its verity and determine its validity and reliability especially as it relates to the general public. 

Verification

A preliminary query conducted by DUBAWA showed  that  in April 2020, when claims about COVID-19 home remedy cures became rampant,   WHO clarified that ginger and honey may not have any effect in curing or treating the disease. At a press conference in Geneva, Dr. Michael Ryan, executive director of the WHO Health Emergencies Program, said that while it could have soothing effects, or even provide reassurance during an illness, it should not be assumed to be effective in treating COVID-19. In his words, he stated that:

“I think we have to be careful from what we would consider to be the traditional remedies that people use for making themselves feel better during the common cold or the flu or any of this. We’ve all had illnesses, and some of us like to take a drink with honey, some like to take ginger…But it’s a different thing to say that something is effective in treating the disease. At this moment there is no therapy that has been proven to be effective in the treatment of COVID-19.”

In the same vein WHO has refuted the claim and renounced its purported cure.   The WHO communication officer, Ms. Charity Warigon confirmed that “This is fake news and WHO has not approved any of such home remedies as COVID-19 cure.” While, Dr Jean Baptiste NIKIEMA, Regional Adviser, Essential Medicines at WHO Africa Regional Office in Brazzaville, who replied to DUBAWA via a mail also explained that:

“Until now there is no cure for COVID-19 that has been scientifically proven. It is important to note that large clinical trials are necessary to conclude on the efficacy of therapeutics against COVID-19. With a very limited number of participants in trials, the recovery can be attributed to any product used by the patients during the sickness. When the number of participants in clinical trials increases, the inefficiency of the product will become evident.  This already happened with Chloroquine, Hydroxychloroquine and Remdesivir last year. WHO kicked off last year, the Solidarity Clinical Trial for COVID-19 Treatments. Solidarity is an international clinical trial to help find an effective treatment for COVID-19, launched by the World Health Organization and partners. It is one of the largest international randomized trials for COVID-19 treatment for almost 12 000 patients in 500 hospital sites in over 30 countries.”

Concerning the ingredients,  Dr. Suranjit Chatterjee, Senior Consultant, Internal Medicine at Indraprastha Apollo Hospital, in a video interview that regards black pepper powder, honey, and ginger juice as COVID-19 cures, explained that there was no medical basis or evidence for stating that either of these ingredients could cure COVID-19. He clarified that: 

“They might soothe the symptoms, they might in some way be immune-boosters, but in no way do they treat the infection in itself. Once you’ve had the infection, they don’t treat it. They have no definite proven role in the treatment of coronavirus.”

Dr. Chatterjee added that:

“Earlier, in pandemics when there was not much medical management, solutions like these were like a solace to people. But at present, there is fairly good medical management which can improve outcomes, so trying to do these and not actually approaching healthcare facilities for the disease could be counter-productive”.

Deductively, this viral message lacks credible reference and the sufficient fact to back its imposition. It’s not anywhere published by a reputable media and has only been in existence as a broadcast message.

Conclusion

While black pepper and honey have lots of value to human health and ginger is also prevalent in natural treatment to boost immunity, these ingredients are not a cure   for the novel coronavirus. Also, WHO has distanced itself from this claim, flagging it as a false claim. 

Claim: A picture being shared on WhatsApp shows the correct way to wear a medical mask when sick and when healthy. 

While it is true the image originated from Nigeria Immigration Service, the directive for wearing a medical mask is wrong. For both healthy and sick persons, the medical mask is worn the same way (i.e. the coloured part out and the white part inside). 

Full Text

Masks are a key measure to suppress the transmission of coronavirus (COVID-19) and save lives. Masks should however not be used alone but as part of other COVID-19 prevention measures, like physical distancing, good ventilation, washing of hands, etc.

A picture going viral on WhatsApp claims that the correct way to wear the medical mask if you are sick is to wear the coloured side out and if you are not sick, the white side out. This the image explains is because the white side is the filter and it stops germs from getting in if you are not sick and if you are sick it prevents germs from getting out.

This image was accredited to Nigeria Immigration service.

Verification

Dubawa visited the site of Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) and found this image is the second image on its homepage. Dubawa also discovered this image had been shared since March 2020.

Dubawa also conducted a keyword search on what medical face masks are, their types and their proper use.

Types of face masks

There are different types of face masks.

Depending on the type, masks can be used for either protection of healthy persons or to prevent onward transmission.

Cloth face mask

Cloth face mask/covering is made out of everyday fabric and serves as a barrier to respiratory droplets. It however does not completely protect against COVID-19.

Respirators

Respirators, also called N95 masks, are designed to protect from small particles in the air, like viruses. They’re certified by the Center for Disease Control (CDC) and National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.

The name comes from the fact that they can filter 95% of airborne particles but it is not resistant to oil.

Surgical/medical face masks

Surgical face masks are fairly loose-fitting, disposable masks approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for use as medical devices.

These masks prevent large droplets of bodily fluids that may contain viruses or other germs from escaping via the nose and mouth. They also protect against splashes and sprays from other people, such as those from sneezes and coughs.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), these are also known as medical masks and are composed of 3 layers of synthetic nonwoven materials configured to have filtration layers sandwiched in the middle available in different thicknesses with various levels of fluid-resistance and filtration.

The three layers of a surgical/medical make are:

Outer (fluid-repellent) layer: Typically coloured blue or green, this layer repels fluid, helping to reduce the chance that viruses and bacteria from the air attach to the mask.

Middle (high-efficiency filter) layer: The middle layer is what does the hard work in capturing viruses and bacteria. Any particles which get past the outside layers are filtered here.

Inner (absorbent) layer: The inner layer captures and absorbs moisture, reducing the chance of any mucus or bacteria from leaving the mask when the wearer coughs or talks.

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Who should wear a medical mask?

The WHO advises that a surgical or medical face mask be worn by health workers, those caring for COVID-19 victims, those with symptoms suggestive of COVID-19,  persons aged 60 and above or anyone with pre-existing medical conditions as they are at greater risk of developing serious illness.

Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) also agrees that medical masks be worn by these groups of persons. 

What is the proper way to wear a medical mask?

The WHO video on how to properly wear a medical face mask did not speak on the proper sides of a medical mask to wear. It only noted who should wear a medical mask and the correct process of putting it on and taking it off.

Smart Air, however, provides details on which side of the medical mask to use. Smart Air is a company dedicated to helping people protect themselves from the harms of air pollution by providing free, data-backed content on air pollution, air purifiers and masks to dispel myths and provide honest, reliable information to help keep people’s lungs clean.

According to smartairfilters, the coloured side (whether blue or green) should be outside but if the mask comes in one colour for both sides or all white, then the feel of the material should be used to determine which part should be out. For such masks, the softer part should be inside as it is the moisture absorbent layer while the rougher part should be outside as it is the moisture-repellent layer.

It is not advisable to use mask ear loops as a determinant for the direction of your mask as they are not consistent. While sometimes the straps are attached to the outside layer, other times the straps are attached to the inside layer.

A video on how to properly wear a surgical or medical mask is also available here.

Conclusion

While the image accredited to NIS is true as Dubawa found the same image on its page; the information contained in the image is not entirely true. Dubawa’s findings show that for both healthy or sick persons, the coloured side of medical masks should be worn outside. While the white part should be inside and this is supported by the functions of the different layers of the medical mask.