“Aren’t you coming along?”

“To do what exactly, please?”

“To get vaccinated, of course. Babe, quit acting like you don’t know that and get your lazy butt off that bed so we can get going already!”

“Get going where o, Aunty June? Me? Vaccine? God forbid!”

June almost can’t believe her ears. She doesn’t understand the reason for this sudden change in attitude. Nkechi was one of the people who enlightened and convinced her about the necessity of getting vaccinated. Why the sudden aversion to  the same?

“Even though you’ve lost nobody close or dear to you to the virus, you know it’s still very important to take responsibility if only because of…”

“Excuse me! You can do better than preaching my own words to my ears as though I’ve developed a sudden amnesia or something,” Nkechi has now risen from her feet.

“But, why?”

“Beautiful question! Although you know the answer already, I’ll gladly sing it loud and clear into your ears again since you’re acting like you’re oblivious to it,” Nkechi walks towards June and stops right in front of her. “Now, let me ask you, where is Nadia now?”

“We both took her to Jaja last night, and she’s still there. But…”

“No buts, Madam Minister for Health. We both know she became a patient at Jaja as a result of complications of the same vaccine you are so eager to carry your whole body on your two legs to receive right now. I don’t even pity you, since you don’t pity yourself.”

“Alright, I get your point now. However, we both know that’s because she took painkillers to assuage the…”

“Continue blowing grammar. E go shock you, as in e go do you like movie say vocabulary no fit help you when everything turn yam pepper scatter scatter. It’s like you don’t know that there’s only a thin line between life and death. As far I’m concerned, I’m no longer interested in any vaccine. I will keep taking necessary precautions like masking up and using hand sanitizer, and God will protect me from any form or variant of Covid.”

“N-ke-chi!” June smiles. “We both saw the broadcast about the post-vaccination dos and don’ts yesterday and we already know how to avoid anything that might trigger complications, now. Why are you doing like this, my dear?”

“The question is, why was the BC circulated only after people had got vaccinated and not before that? Do you know how many people might have taken strong painkillers after the vaccine? Why  weren’t they informed at the point of vaccination? Why circulate vital pieces of information like abstinence from alcohol, refraining from applying hot compresses and blah blah blah get circulated via group chats after people’s lives could have possibly been threatened by complications? I should now proceed to take the vaccine only to start getting to know about another set of dos and don’ts that we might not be aware of now after I’ve been given bed at the University Health Service or maybe UCH this time around, right? Medicine after death, mtcheew.”

“That won’t happen, babe. Enough of the exaggeration and stop keeping me waiting already.”

“Nne, just dead the matter already. I no dey go anywhere biko.”

June can see clearly that there’s no way to change Nkechi’s mind at the moment or even anytime soon.

(The focus of this article is the importance of timely dissemination of information and it is by no means at all an attempt to discourage the reader from taking the Covid vaccine)