BEVERLY HILLS, March 29, (THEWILL) – According to information shared online by the COVID-19 Presidential Task Force (PTF) on Wednesday, a total of 215,277 Nigerians have received their first doses of the University of Oxford coronavirus vaccine AstraZeneca. In early March, the country received 3.94 million doses of the vaccine through the COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access (COVAX) facility for immediate administration across the country.
COVAX is the global initiative that is aimed at equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines and is led by UNICEF, Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, the World Health Organisation, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, and others working with governments and manufacturers to ensure COVID-19 vaccines are available worldwide to both higher-income and lower-income countries.
As Nigeria commenced nationwide vaccination exercises across the states of the federation and Abuja, starting with healthcare workers, frontline medicinal personal and other providers of essential services, she joined the rest of the world as the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic fortunately turned to vaccination strategies.
The successful development of a number of vaccines, and their proven efficacy and short-term safety in large scale multinational trials against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV2), has been a welcome relief in the global drive to control the pandemic and stem the tide of related deaths.
Like in Nigeria, many countries are now operationalising their vaccination programmes as they prioritise health-care workers and the most vulnerable individuals within the population such as the elderly and those with chronic health conditions.
The very nature of sports and sporting activities meant considerable precautions were necessary during the peak of the pandemic last year. COVID-19 severely affected all activities of a sporting nature because it was respiratory and most sports involved some form of contact or the other. As a consequence, 2020 saw the postponement and cancellation of a vast number of domestic and international events at ridiculous costs to the organisers.
According to a study published by The Lancet Journal of Respiratory Medicine in February, findings within the past year revealed details of some transmission of COVID-19 that occurred in sport, and goes to show why the issue of COVID-19 vaccination in elite and competitive, recreational athletes is fast becoming a pressing issue for individual athletes, sporting teams, and organisations and those who engage in personal physical exercises.
Recently, the Honourable Minister of Sports and Youth Development, Sunday Dare, while confirming that the 20th National Sports Festival (NSF) to be hosted by Edo State will go ahead as planned next month, after a series of pandemic-enforced postponements, said the entirety of the event organisation will be under strict COVID-19 protocols. To adhere to that provision, he said the Sports Ministry had liaised with health stakeholders to ensure the inoculation of those taking active part in the sporting activities.
The related concerns that sport clinicians now face, amidst several important considerations, is the impact of exercise on the efficacy of these vaccines, their potential side effects, advice regarding the timing of these vaccinations especially as these games will commence early next month, and finally whether the vaccine actually prevents coronavirus transmission.
In the sporting world, vaccination has a role and is fairly common. Annually, a sizeable percentage of athletes get the jab against influenza although the debates about the risks and benefits of vaccination is yet to acquire consensual status in this specialist community. Yet, year in year out, heightened rates of vaccine efficacy across various studies has made it widely accepted as individuals who engaged in moderate intensity exercise before vaccination showed an increased antibody titre.
However, as with some experimentations, the evidence is not entirely conclusive. This is because there exist some other cognate studies that apply similar conditions, yet show no appreciable impact of exercise on vaccine response in the individuals of similar composition as those that observed an increase in the titre for antibodies.
The overarching position of sports statisticians dealing with response to vaccination is that the increase in neutralising antibodies is mostly stronger in athletes than non-athletes, a position that suggests that regular high frequency and intensity of training might enhance vaccine response.
What this all implies in the context of the ongoing COVID-19 vaccination, especially for athletes who may be representing their states at the NSF and others, athletes or non-athletes, who are involved in some form of physical training, relates to the impact of vaccine-related side effects and the engagement in more activity before and after getting the vaccine.
Although the Executive Director of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), Faisal Shuaib, while speaking at the weekly briefing of the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19 said no one in Nigeria had had any serious adverse reaction following the administration of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine in the country, details on the vaccination tolerability in the global population is still emerging and will most likely differ based on type and formulation of vaccine.
Presently, as it is in Nigeria, preliminary data provides reassurance regarding an overall low serious adverse event rate around the world of sports. Even if safety analysis from the AstraZeneca vaccine revealed that around 50% of recipients had localised pain and tenderness at the vaccination site, of mild to moderate severity, it mostly lasted between four to five days post first-dose administration. There were some fatigue and headache also reported in about 70% of recipients post first-dose with muscle ache and fever present in 60%.
This global percentages tallied with the report of the Executive Director. In his PTF speech, Shuaib said: “No Nigerian so far has developed any known severe side effect, while we have observed that there might be some mild symptoms like pain and swelling at the site of the vaccination, body pains and mild fever.”
This has implications for sportsmen and women especially the time factor involved with these noticeable side effects, which might not be as important for those not involved in strenuous physical activities. If, as the observations give evidence, these side effects can sometimes take a week to peter out, there are potential impacts vaccination can have on an active athlete’s ability to train and to be in optimal shape to compete. As it becomes more general knowledge, it could deter highly active athletes from accepting the jab.
It is unclear if this has been worked out by medical stakeholders involved in the NSF but, discussions about training before and after a vaccine adminstration are therefore encouraged for individuals engaging in sports and physical exertions so that they can plan out their schedules with the side effects in mind post-vaccination, just as it is worth considering reducing training intensity while applying simple analgesics to deal with immediate recurring pains felt either around the area of injection or elsewhere.
It is to the disadvantage of athletes in Nigeria that they were not afforded the allowance to decide on a favoured choice of vaccine as only one of the several licenced COVID-19 vaccines was obtained by the government, the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine.
It remains vague when the second AstraZeneca dose will be administered to the 215,277 Nigerians that have received their first jabs. This is because the recommended dosage is two doses given intramuscularly (0.5ml each) with an interval of eight to 12 weeks. Additionally, the World Health Organisation says the vaccine is said to have an efficacy of 63.09% against symptomatic COVID-19 infection, with greater vaccine efficacy if longer dose intervals within the eight to 12-week range are associated.
That is another consideration for these athletes that will be inoculated just before the games begin in Edo State. They will be pushing their bodies to the limit between the doses in the dark about the effects that that could have on their health in the long run especially as not much information exists for comparison and analysis about going from light training to engaging in full blown competitive sporting activities in post-vaccination before the second dose is due.
It becomes the duty of all sports stakeholders involved in the gradual return of active sports and competitions with the easing of restrictions and the lessening of the rate of infections to familiarise themselves with available information on the efficacy of the injection to their sports people and their side effect profiles so that they can be best prepared to handle the effects over the two doses and allow these athletes the opportunity to engage in their training schedules in their best conditions.
As a general rule for individuals who engage in some light to medium physical exertions and exercises for professional and or personal goals and who are considering going to take the vaccine, the recommendation of sports clinicians is for them to get plenty of rest leading up to the date of getting their jabs. This is based on studies that have shown that those more rested generate more antibodies with traditional vaccines.
The joyful news remains that there are no reported cases of adverse reactions on record in Nigeria to the AstraZeneca vaccine. As Faisal noted to the COVID-19 PTF, his agency, the NPHCDA, will continue to collaborate with the National Agency for Food and Drug Adminstration and Control (NAFDAC) “Pharmacovigilance Team” to monitor the administration of the vaccine and document any adverse reactions that may occur in future.
About the Author
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
