Covid-19 not modified malaria, vaccine against coronavirus needed everywhere

Covid-19 is no different to malaria and can be treated with antimalarial drugs, so there’s no need for a Covid-19 vaccine in Africa, claims a message posted on the “Radio Biafra London” Facebook page in January 2021.

“Africa does not need any covid-19 vaccines,” it reads. “Covid-19 is nothing different from Malaria. Covid-19 is a modified Malaria in the Lab. The pathogens are the same. Nobody should bring a vaccine to us here in the name of a loan. Malaria drugs can take care of Covid-19. On no account I repeat.”

But it’s completely false. Medical evidence and experts say there’s no similarity between Covid-19 and malaria.

Malaria caused by parasite, Covid-19 caused by virus

Malaria is caused by plasmodium parasites while Covid-19 is caused by a virus, Adamu Bakari, a professor of medicine at the Ahmadu Bello University at Zaria in northwest Nigeria, told Africa Check. Specifically, Covid-19 is caused by a new coronavirus called Sars-CoV-2.

“Though some Covid-19 symptoms are similar to those commonly associated with malaria, they are not the same in any way,” Bakari said.

“Plasmodium is many times bigger than viruses such as the coronavirus. While you can see plasmodium under a simple microscope, you need an electron microscope to see a virus. So their pathogens, which means the causative agents, for Covid-19 and malaria, are not similar.”

Malaria drugs don’t cure Covid-19

Prof Olugbenga Awobusuyi, head of the nephrology unit at the Lagos State University College of Medicine, told us vaccination would be effective against Covid-19, but antimalarial drugs would not.

“Malaria is a parasitic disease, while Covid-19 is viral,” he said. “There have been claims that some antimalarial drugs such as hydroxychloroquine are effective against Covid-19. But the clinical trial didn’t prove them to be effective and so it has been abandoned. The vaccine is effective. I advise people to take it when they become available in Nigeria.”

In June 2020, the World Health Organization stopped a trial of hydroxychloroquine as a treatment for Covid-19. 

The WHO said the decision was based on evidence from the trial and review of other evidence, which concluded that hydroxychloroquine did not reduce the mortality of hospitalised Covid-19 patients.

Medical experts we spoke to urged people to take precautions, use face masks, observe social distancing, wash their hands regularly, visit a hospital if they had symptoms related to Covid-19, and avoid self-medication.