Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu and Deputy Governor Obafemi Hamzat said they felt no side effects whatsoever three days after taking the COVID-19 vaccine.
This came as Edo State Governor Godwin Obaseki, his deputy, Mr Philip Shaibu, Imo State Governor Hope Uzodimma, his wife Chioma, deputy governor Prof. Placid Njoku and Plateau State Governor Simon Bako Lalong on Monday took their shots.
Governor Sanwo-Olu received the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine alongside the deputy governor, Obafemi Hamzat; the Commissioner for Health, Akin Abayomi; and the Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Gbenga Omotoso at the Infectious Disease Hospital (IDH), Yaba on March 12.
Also, health practitioners, frontline workers and some newsmen, among others, took the COVID-19 vaccines.
Sanwo-Olu, who addressed reporters at his office on Monday, said he felt no side effects contrary to widespread speculation that the vaccine comes with side effects.
”It has been three days since I got the AstraZeneca vaccine. I can confirm to you that I felt no after-effects at all. I didn’t have any headache, any malaria, or any symptoms whatsoever.
”I have taken and Lagos has continued to vaccinate all of our frontline workers. There is nothing to worry about. We encourage others to continue to take the vaccine,” he said.
Also, the Deputy Governor, Hamzat, said he felt no after-effects.
”No symptoms at all, I didn’t feel anything,” he said.
The Commissioner for Health, Prof. Abayomi, however, said that he felt slight pains at the side of the injection a day after taking the vaccine, but was relieved after taking pain relief medicine.
”I just took some Panadol, I went to sleep, I did a bit of exercise and then I went to sleep and I woke up yesterday morning and I felt fantastic,” he said.
According to him, everybody is different, as some people won’t feel anything at all, some people will have a bit of body pain, some may even have shivering, and those are all expected side effects.
He said that such effects were in the literature of the vaccine and had been mentioned to get people prepared, and such effects were just categorised as `Adverse Effects Following Immunisation’.
“There is another category called `Adverse Effects of Special Interest’ and those are very rare.
“So, the first type of getting pain at the site of the injection, feeling body pain or headache is normal. Most people will experience something like that if you take the vaccine.
”But the one of Special Interest, they are serious, they cause people to collapse, they go into shock, they get severe complications and it can happen with any vaccination, it is not confined to COVID-19.
”They are very rare, they happen; maybe one in five million people who will take it will experience an anaphylactic reaction. In other words, you react to something in the vaccine, you are allergic to one of the chemical carriers.
”But we are ready for that. If you notice the kits that we have at the site, it contains steroids and all kinds of medications.
“If anybody gets the vaccine and had an anaphylactic reaction, the doctors at the site of vaccination are ready to deal with that,” Abayomi said.
However, Obaseki and Shaibu have received their first jabs of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine. They on Monday got inoculated some days after the state received more than 81,080 doses of the vaccine from the Federal Government.
Obaseki received the vaccine at 12:28 a. m. and his deputy received it at 12:30 a. m.
They took the vaccine during the COVID-19 vaccination inauguration ceremony in Benin.
Obaseki gave the assurance of the safety of the vaccine.
The governor’s wife, Mrs Besty Obaseki, and the deputy governor’s wife, Mrs Maryann Shaibu, were also vaccinated.
Other dignitaries, who were vaccinated were the Senator representing Edo South, Matthew Urhoghide, Sen. Clifford Ordia (Edo Central) and Secretary to Edo State Government, Mr Osarodion Ogie and others.