Vaccine Proponents and Opponents: Machiavelli Was right! - Ik Muo, PhD.

Whenever and wherever Machiavelli is mentioned, people remember Machiavellianism, ‘the end  justifies the means’ philosophy for which he was and is known. 18 years ago, I described Machiavellianism  as;  ‘an approach that is unethical, treacherous, destructive, dangerous and which will only guarantee the practitioner some short term gains, public opprobrium and obloquy and little –if any-peace of mind’( Ik Muo; Management Gurus: What of Machiavelli; BusinessDay,17/3/04).  However, people do great injustice to Machiavelli when they limit him to Machiavellianism because that his classical book is an extensive treatise on diverse organizational management issues, especially change management. That is the link between the Covid Vaccines and Machiavelli, a public servant and political strategist who lived in16th century Italy between 1469 and 1532.  Machiavelli had warned that  those who oppose the Prince and his policies would attack ferociously  at every opportunity, with everything and anything, fair and foul, while the proponents  would be lukewarm and puerile, defending his ideas halfheartedly(Nicholo’ Machiavelli,(1532)The Prince(A handbook of power, politics and statesmanship);pp49-50).

That is exactly what is happening today as those who are opposed to Covid vaccines are doing everything within and outside the books to de-market vaccines and market their opposition (fiction, faction, conjured data, intimidation (as it is happening in Quebec today),  fakery, legal gymnastics  and outright lies). But there is no ‘pim’( whimper)   from those who support and believe in the efficacy of the vaccine. Have you heard of any court case or demonstration in support of vaccines in any part of the world? Proponents will just stay in their quiet corner, make measured academic statements  in support of the vaccines as a part of other things they are saying and move on with life. In the process, the anti-vax crowds have the upper hand, attract more followers, especially among the ill-educated and that is where we are today. At times, certain inexplicable developments as the Israeli case or the need to do first, second, third and 4^th doses make the arguments of the opponents difficult to counter. But what is happening is that according to Machiavelli, the  proponents are lukewarm while the opponents are ferocious and indeed, extremist about it. Such quiet proponents include Melaine Saville, Director of vaccine  research and development, Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness and Innovation( CEPI); Prof Wang of Duke-Nus Medical school, Singapore who are quietly working on the supper-shot, a single dose that that defends against all mutations, Biontech/Pfizer, which is working on omicron-only vaccine, which would be ready in March,  the 84 old  Brahamdev Mandal  of India who so believed in the efficacy of vaccines ( he  said it cured his pre-existing conditions) that he had taken 12 doses( for which the police has declared him wanted), a twin who took it and survived a second onslaught while his twin brother, an antivaxxer, succumbed without a modicum of resistance from vicious virus!

In the beginning, naysayers made multidimensional efforts  to ‘rubbish’ the  virus itself, arguing bold-facedly  that it never existed, that it was a creation of the highly imaginative Whiteman and that even if it existed, it was for the whites or their big-men counterparts in countries like Nigeria.  They even accused it of killing Goliath, denying David of his honour! Eventually, the nay-sayers zeroed in on the vaccine itself, explaining how they generate electricity and magnetic forces (within  living human beings!), how  they were designed by big corporates so as to hammer, and how they were designed by the wicked Whiteman  as genocidal instruments  against blacks. This is  notwithstanding  the fact that many blacks, including Dr Onyema Ogbuagu of Nigeria, were FULLY involved, that the whites are taking the vaccines including those in Nigeria, and that it is in the enlightened self-interest of Whiteman  for the blacks to exist, as a market for their genuine and fake products( including dirty fuel)!

The protests about vaccines are   spreading like wildfire fire all over Europe and America, with Canada as the epicenter, due to the activities of the Freedom convoy.  Canada had directed that truckers coming into their territory must be doubly-jabbed of endure a 2-wek quarantine and  that was why the freedom convoy was born; drivers blocking the boundary bridge and other parts of the cities with their trucks and that is despite the court order to vacate the bridge or the extreme emergency rule activated by the recently coronised Trudeau. 

The truckers have even exported their  ‘I-no-go-gree’ hotheadedness , which is now firing in New Zealand, for the past 2 weeks and where rightly,  the PM. Jacinda Arden has described it as imported( with Canadian and Trumpish flags  flying all over the place).  It has also berthed in Israel and even in Nigeria, the truckers are on duty as they have blocked the Taraba-Benue boundary.

Unfortunately, the Nigerian freedom convoy is about freedom from  extortion by government agents(another form of SARS- State Aided Robbery Squad). I advice that you do not compare the trucks in Nigeria and those in Canada.  In France, a motley crowd of ‘protestants’   occupied Pfizer HQ, venting their anger and chanting ‘assassins’. Of course, the governments are responding in kind as Canada resorted to arrests, truck seizures and financial asphyxiation while and Ontario fixed a fine of as much as $100,000 for road blockade. The convoy is also earning some victory as some 4  Canadian provinces have moderated their mandates. Other antivaxxers are responding powerfully in their own ways. Novak Djovic says he is not against vaccines but would want to control what goes into his body and is  ready to boycott French Open, even Wimbledon  and other gland slams over the matter.

Meanwhile, airlines are pressurizing governments to review covid mandates, especially flight-related vaccinations quarantines, arguing that scientific evidence  no longer supports the safety objectives of pre-departure tests, blanket quarantines, self-isolation and restrictions. They are opposed to the current test regime which costs N200,000 for four sessions of testing per trip as it has become a revenue driven motive for governments, private operators and touts. It is also dealing a big blow to their operations, especially in Africa where airlines lost $8.6bn  in 2021 due to Covid mandates and restrictions. And this is as they are facing increasing passenger unruliness and resistance to basic mandates. A  passenger was the other deplaned on a Lagos-Asaba flight after he refused to mask and to sanitize his hands!

However, the more deadly group of antivaxxers are those who manipulate the public through fake, adulterated or conjured data, which many people latch on to join the ant-vax movement. In this category, you have those who ‘leaked’ the ‘order’ from the International Common Law Court of Justice, prohibiting vaccines. Such a court does not exist anywhere and the authors  even went to the desperate extent of ‘stealing’ the logo of ICC. There is also the reference to a 1963 Italian film, which was allegedly on the ‘Omicron Variant’ and which evidences that the Covid was a preplanned project. Sure, there was a 1963 film called omicron but the title, Omicron-Variant was doctored and on 28/11/21,Becky Cheatle, who  photoshopped and manipulated the poster,  admitted as much. Yet it is one of the greatest pieces of evidence that Coro was pre-planned. There was another ‘scientific’ report that wicked ailments (neurological, cardiovascular, oncological and reproductive) have quadrupled post vaccination (August 2020 to December 2021) as evidenced by whistle-blower’s from the US Medical Health Surveillance System( DMED), which had concealed its data. The purported increments include Hypertension –  2,181%; nervous diseases – 1,048%; Malignant neoplasms of oesophagus – 894% Multiple sclerosis – 680% Malignant neoplasms of digestive organs – 624%  Guillain-Barre syndrome – 551% and Tachycardia, which was the least at  302%. The wicked and inhuman concealment of the ‘deadly’ data was exposed and given more credence by Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis) in the publicly circulated letter to Department of Defense. But nobody gave any attention from the DOD about a computer glitch, which messed up their data. There was an allegation  by The Epoch Times that Covid 19 vaccines was removed from FDA data base after a study found that heart-inflammation was higher post-vaccination.here is also a report circulating wildly that Dr. Reiner Fuellmich is leading a group of ‘over 1,000 lawyers and over 10,000 medical experts’, to commence legal proceedings against the Centre for Disease Control (CDC), World Health Organization (WHO) and the Davos Group, accusing them of crimes against humanity.   When you do a fact-check, you will know the truth and that truth will set you free.(John, 8:32)

Marcus Thornton,  of the State Department has also formed  has formed a movement known as Feds4MedFreedom, the largest organization of government workers (6778 members)workers to demand that President Joe Biden walk back his September 2021 executive order that required government workers and contractors to be fully vaccinated . Their most recent engagement was the participation in the Defeat the Mandates March in Washington, D.C. on January 23. As is obvious, the antivaxxers are doing all in their power to promote their course, hinging it mostly on human rights. But the proponents are all following it gentlemanly and so, antivax sentiments are rising higher and higher

Meanwhile, as we continue to explore this theme of vaccine hesitancy, there is no denying the fact that there are confusing developments in the coro warfront; developments that confound even sincere interrogators of the weird phenomenon. Just the other day, the much maligned Fauci declared that  we were exiting full-blown pandemic phase; that  modification of mandates would be more of a local affair with  many people making their own decisions on the matter.. Around the same time, the WHO declared that the emergency phase of Coro would be over in 2022 while a White House official declared that the US was approaching a phase where Covid would no longer be a crisis . In response to all this sudden shift in position and denouement  of the covid hysterics, one Bonchie( an alias for sure) commented that it was all about politics. This is happening as more countries are easing up: no or limited mandates, open boarders and free travels. UAE, where 95% of its residents are already doubly-jabbed is opening up the socio-economic space, asking individuals to take charge of their safety measures. Singapore has opened up its boarders and offered quarantine-free travels for all the vaccinated.  Organisers of Coachella and Stagecoach musical festivals(California)  have dropped p vaccine, testing and masking requirements and indeed almost all covid requirements( 16/2/22). Disney has made masking optional for vaccinated people while  Austria will drop almost all covid mandates from 1/3/22, the same day when Ontario will also drop the vaccine mandate.  Under these circumstances, it is proper to be optimistic

However, it is NOT yet Uhuru! Cook Island has just  had its index case( 12/2/22). South Korea had 54619 as its highest on 14/2 after 5 consecutive days of 50000+ cases and then upped the ante with  96792 on  17/2/22 and 100000 the following day. On the same 17/2/22, Hong Kong  which recorded 4000 a few days earlier( 40 times its tally at the beginning of February, recorded its highest ever tally(9000), and it has postponed its election by 1 month. Record cases were also had by New Zealand(981) Malaysia(27831) and Saudi Arabia( 5362). Japan also recorded 945 deaths, 80% increment within a week. Coro has also continued to afflict the powerful, including Prince Charles, 74; who has been triply-jabbed( second time around), his wife Camalia, R Kelly who contracted his own in Jail, Honduran President, Xiomara Castro who is doubly jabbed and sworn in on 27/1( probably, na im village people who did not want her to enjoy her new status),  and President Erdogon of Turkey

This Coro thing tire person! So while some are opening up and opinion leaders are giving hope, others are in dire stress and are resorting to physical and policy lockdowns. So, is it over? Is it about to be over? Or is it moving up? 

While hoping to continue with my coro discourse some other time, I have just made a GREAT discovery; something to cheer about and I want to share this new truth with you: how lucky we are to have Buhari as our president, even when he is now competing with Obasanjo on  travelmania and running our affairs from the air or from abroad. The source of my discovery? Rotimi Amaechi, who has been a government pickin since he left university, told us that after God, we should commend Buhari for preventing the economy from crashing on us (Sunday Guardian, 6/2/22).  In the front page of the same Guardian,  it was reported that 78% of Nigerians were unhappy  and despondent over poor living conditions (especially, insecurity, inability to meet basic needs, unemployment). I examined and re-examined the figures from NBS and I wondered. Anyway, those in Government, have different realities. Thereafter, Ahmed Lawan, who had announced that he would approve whatever request the president presented to the NASS, announced that PMB is in a hurry to develop Nigeria and that  before 2023,Nigeria would have been turned into an infrastructure laboratory because every part of Nigeria from East to the West to the North to the South would have been impacted. What else can I say? And then, the VP announced that PMB is Godsent and honest leader. So, with these authoritative and cerebral sources, why won’t I believe and why won’t I share the good news with you?  I have also just discovered that the symptoms of omicron are basically the same feelings you get when your wife is checking your phone: difficulty in breathing, sweating profusely, weakness, headache and when she asks ‘who is Tina’, the dry cough starts. In any case, I just came across this message from one anonymous and mischievous Nigeria’ that If you are in Nigeria and your BP is normal, then you are not normal. QED, QEF. By the way, wherever you are, try and enjoy yourself as this fellow with split-AC in this distressed mud-house.

With deep shock and  indescribable sorrow, I regret to announce the death of my sister-in-law, Nono Nwamaka Ononenyi Muo, ogonogo, okwulu-oka(Tallest) who left this distressed and stressful world around 2pm on Friday, 11/2/22. She was married to Prof MC Muo of Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka. 

Beyond the immediate family, I commiserate in a special way with our in-law, her 98 year old father, Ide JNC Ezeife. May her soul rest in peace!

- Ik Muo, PhD. Department of Business Administration, OOU, Ago-Iwoye. 08033026624

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