We are currently in the Jet age period, an era with advanced technology and easy access to multiple streams of information at one's fingertips. With this advantage, you would think that people all over the world would not have some misconceptions about certain things and also that silly superstitions would fade away, replaced by knowledge.
But it seems like the higher the advancement, the higher the hold of superstition and silly theories in the hearts of many. It would not be so surprising to know that something as beneficial as vaccination also has its own theories. Some of these theories are so ridiculous that I wonder how they came about in the first place.
The first theory I heard about was that vaccines should not be given to female children as it could affect their fertility in the future. I was a teenager when I heard this silly theory. I began the journey of debunking this theory with those who were spreading it in my class.
Being a science student gave me an edge as I began to explain that vaccines are made using inactivated and weakened pathogens, studied over time and clinically tested to emit an immune response before it is massed produced under strict sterile laboratory conditions. There is no way a weakened and inactivated pathogen can harm a female's body to the point of infertility.
I also made some classmates of mine understand that these vaccines are introduced into the body to prepare the body's CD4 cells and lymphocytes against future attacks. Since our white blood cells can retain memory, if such a pathogen should enter a vaccinated person's body, it will be dealt with without causing harm to the vaccinated person....easy-peasy.
The second vaccination theory I heard about was concerning Covid-19 vaccine. I heard a lot of things and also read the comments of many individuals online claiming that the vaccine was a strategy by Bill Gates to depopulate the world, especially Africa amd Africans.
I also heard that once the Covid-19 vaccine was given, some people lost their lives while others became handicapped. Some persons came out online to claim that there was metallic substance inside the vaccine that caused magnetism to metals.
I won't lie, all these theories got to me and I became a bit scared of taking the vaccines at first. I was fortunate enough to have been given all complete doses of vaccines as a little child and I recall my father always told me that immunization is very beneficial. So hearing all those theories about the Covid-19 vaccine caused my heart to stir in fright.
It wasn't until a year later when some medical health workers came to my place of work to get us vaccinated as directed by the Federal government that I finally gave in. Even at that, I waited until about ten of my colleagues had taken their shots first before I dared to sit and receive mine.
The vaccine was painful no doubt. In fact, my left arm was a bit sore throughout that day but by the next day, all was back to normal and today I can beat my chest to have been vaccinated against Covid-19. I take vaccines seriously, irrespective of the baseless theories going up and down.
Sometimes I wonder, if it is fear that makes people cook up and spread such theories or are they trying to make a mockery of the efforts of laboratory technicians who work tirelessly to ensure that these vaccines are of good quality? Who is to blame for the spread of silly theories against vaccines.
As an educator, I feel sad when I get texts and phone calls from parents pleading with me not to allow their children to receive vaccinations. I almost wonder what they are paying school fees for if they are still not enlightened enough about the importance of vaccines to our health.
Thanks to vaccination, terrible diseases like small pox, measles, polio, chicken pox, diphtheria and others are being controlled and even eradicated. Vaccination is a blessing that should be cherished and not a subject for ridicule with silly theories here and there.
Thank you Al for reading. This is my entry to the weekly #hivelearners initiative for week 175 e02.
Images source: Meta Ai