“When you say vaccine, it means all authorities have confirmed it. The report in the media was misreported, which I have no authority over.'
Since the COVID-19 pandemic made a major landfall in the country early this year, the Nigerian science community has paved some fitful but significantly innovative paths in the bid to join a global community of peers wrestling with answers to the conundrum posed by perhaps the most transmissible virus in the recent history of the world.
“We have a potential vaccine candidate which is different from a vaccine,” Mr Oladipo, who holds a doctorate degree in medical virology, immunology and bioinformatics, told PREMIUM TIMES after a prolonged attempt to get him to speak to a reporter after The Guardian story which he claimed broke his trust in the genre of journalism that is in haste to publish rather than accurately inform.
After days of trying to rebuild the ‘broken trust’ in journalism with Mr Oladipo, the team lead on the vaccine development and research at Adeleke University, was ready to speak to this reporter on the history of his work, how things are progressing, and on the fitful but unspoken efforts to mitigate on and provide both temporary, as well as lasting, solutions to the novel coronavirus pandemic in the Nigerian science community.
“From Monday to Saturday, 8 a.m – 8 p.m everyday; even a team member fell sick because of the stress,” he spoke of how his 30-member team kept plodding on, seeking to etch a note on the global scientific scoreboard, even as he tried to negotiate a space for his kid, in the background, who was persistently demanding attention, “ I want to watch cartoon, I want to watch cartoon.”
Mr Oloke also spoke on the funding support from the private sector, the timeline of the vaccine development, and the general research backdrop of the country. The research, Mr Oladipo said, is ongoing at Helix Biogen Laboratory in Ogbomosho which he owns in partnership with Trinity Immuno-deficient Laboratory, which was reported as a co-funder of the vaccine production, owned by Mr Oloke, the Vice-Chancellor of Precious CornerStone University, who was Mr Oladipo’s teacher and supervisor on his doctoral work.
Nigeria Latest News, Nigeria Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
COVID-19: Abia releases timelines for School resumption - Daily Post NigeriaFurther to the recommendation of education stakeholders in Abia State to resume academic activities on the 10th of August, 2020, to enable exit students
Read more »
South Africa’s COVID-19 Cases Top 500,000South Africa’s COVID-19 Cases Top 500,000
Read more »
COVID-19 Weekly Review: Nigeria records more recoveries, fewer infections, deathsIn the past month, the figures have been fluctuating, which suggest that Nigeria is not close to flattening the curve of the pandemic.
Read more »
COVID-19: Lagos public buses resume loading at full-capacityIn May, Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu announced the guidelines for the partial easing of lockdown in the state, part of which was that commercial buses...
Read more »
Inside Kano’s war against COVID-19At the onset of the coronavirus outbreak in Nigeria, the premonition was the likelihood of Kano State becoming the epicentre of the pandemic in the country, if not in Africa. With its estimated pop…
Read more »
COVID-19: Charter airlines defy flight ban, fly rich Nigerians abroad
Read more »