‘Have you taken the COVID-19 vaccine???’ A family friend whom I have known for over 20 years asked me one night while she saw me off after a visit to her house.
‘After December, it would cost a certain amount of money to get vaccinated. Not only that. - You would not be able to enter any governmental organizations neither would you be able to participate in any governmental activities if you do not have the test results of the COVID-19 vaccine.’ She added.
She left me with these words as she said ‘Goodbye’ and we parted ways. As we went our different ways, I began to ponder on what she had just said.
I had some series of events that replayed in my head that supports her advice. My thoughts are recorded in the next paragraphs below.
In 2018, I enrolled for my National Identity Number (NIN) document which I got a month after my registration.
However, last year, the government made it compulsory for everyone with active sim cards in phones to link our NIN with our registered mobile number. It became a stressful exercise because most people who had sim cards do not have the NIN document.
This became more serious as the document was not easy to enrol for like I did back in 2018. When I did mine, it was for FREE! The only criteria to meet was the fact that I must open a bank account where I enrolled for it and this cost absolutely nothing on my side!
According to what I heard, some people had to pay some money for the enrollment of this NIN document as at last year even until now! @Princessbusayo, @HappyBoy and @Kristofferquincy could testify to this.
Could this be the planned drama for the COVID-19 vaccine that is free for now??? – She could be right. Couldn’t she???
As I walked down the streets further, I remembered another scenario that occurred to me last week. My friend wanted to renew his international passport at the Immigration office.
I was shocked when the immigration officer called the price for the renewal of the international passport! – It was the same amount for the enrollment of the passport document.
The money was not the problem for my guy but the urgent need for it. I asked if we could get the passport document that same day we enroll for it. ‘No. You would get it in eight weeks.’ He replied.
When I enrolled for mine last year at the same place, it was the same price for the renewal this year and I got it the same day I enrolled for it even though it took me a whole day to wait.
I argued with the immigration officers telling them that I got mine the same day I enrolled for it. They said they never did such ‘wait and get’ enrollment of international passports for people last year. I looked like a fool amongst them and I was just silent till we left the place disappointedly.
Could this ‘International Passport Drama’ happen in a similar way for the ‘COVID-19 Vaccine Test’ after December???
These thoughts gave me a stronger conviction that she could be right. That is just one thing about my country.
They teach us to take something seriously when it is just starting up so we do not end up with ten times stress and money when it gets late in ‘Rush’ or ‘Zero Hour’.
Are these reasons strong enough to convince me to get the COVID-19 vaccine??? Surely sure! But I don’t want to.
Regardless of whatever conditions surrounding the vaccination programme, I do not like vaccines. Of course, they are not bad but I just don’t buy the idea of being vaccinated. It’s not my thing at all.
When I was a kid I was given polio vaccines unconsciously but if I had a choice of mine then, I would detest from taking it. How much more now???
Conclusively, I am left with the decision to make. Should I get vaccinated to avoid the stress that would come up after December or should I decline it because I dislike vaccines???
Lead Image: unsplash.com
There are different opinions concerning the vaccine ; the covid- 19 vaccine to be precise in some countries. There are cases of people who eventually obliged to take the vaccine and instead of getting immunized, the reverse was the case. Personally, am scared to take the vaccine due to the adverse effects people reportedly experienced after taking the vaccine.