1Nigerian Covid Response Alliance, Ikeja, Lagos State, Nigeria; 2Rapha Healthy Living Institute, Ikeja, Lagos State; 3LivingScience Foundation, Ile Ife, Osun State; 4Advocates for Freedom and Democracy, Ikeja, Lagos State; 5Initiative for Youths Resource Centre, Osogbo, Osun State; 6Christian Initiative for Nation Building, Osogbo, Osun State; 7Caribbean Health and Nutrition, Ikoyi, Lagos State; 8The Scholastic-Ng Podcast, Kaduna, Kaduna State.
Corresponding Email address: nigeriancovidresponsealliance@gmail.com
Nigerian Journal of Environment and Health 3 (2023) 57-63
DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.17759423
Outbreaks The Nigerian COVID Response Alliance is a wholly-indigenous movement formed to monitor the official response to the COVID-19 pandemic in Nigeria; and ensure that the response remains within the ambit of reason, and citizens’ fundamental human rights. We have previously clarified [NCRA 2021] that our grouse is not with vaccines themselves, but their being blindly mandated for everybody without due comprehensive and holistic risk-benefit considerations for both individuals and society as a whole. In June 2020, we saw in the proposed amendment to the Control of Infectious Diseases Act, a dastardly attempt to foist mandatory vaccination on Nigerians with grim implications both for basic freedom and public health. We also foresaw a more grievous scenario following, as nanobots, already developed but currently held in abeyance, are unceremoniously deployed once mandatory vaccination has been established and accepted. To forestall all these, we consequently submitted a Memorandum [NCRA 2020] to the House of Representatives during the public hearing on the Bill. The unjustifiable (in our opinion) mandating of COVID vaccination which began surreptitiously at the 20th National Sports Festival [Edo 2021] subsequently reached all employees of the Federal Government, cascaded to members of the National Youth Service Corp scheme [Guardian 2021], and is currently indirectly threatening young school leavers with the announcements by the Joint Admissions Matriculation Board [JAMB 2021] that the mandates will be enforced at her facilities as fully as possible. The heat is also being put on employees at the Local Government levels [Punch 2021]; and indications have emerged of government attempting to conflate COVID and childhood vaccines which could potentially see day-olds (presumably “accidentally”) receiving COVID vaccines! [Independent 2021]. In this submission, we highlight some cogent points why the idea of mandatory COVID vaccination should not be entertained in Nigeria. A detailed presentation together with more extensive references can be found at our archive [NCRA 2022].
© NJEH 2023 Published by Living Science Foundation.