Vaccination: Stakeholders Must Dispel Rumours to Tackle Low Response, Says Expert

Omon-Julius Onabu in Asaba and Blessing Ibunge in Port-Harcourt

The low COVID-19 vaccines coverage for Africa, and particularly Nigeria, has been described as abysmal with a call on all stakeholders to join the efforts to reverse the trend by getting more Nigerians to get vaccinated.

Dr. Obasi Chikezie of the Community Health Department, Enugu State University Teaching Hospital, Enugu, gave the charge at a one day media dialogue on COVID-19 vaccination, theories and uptake held yesterday in Port-Harcourt, Rivers State, organized by UNICEF.

He said it was common knowledge that several baseless rumours and myths about the available COVID-19 vaccines were discouraging Nigerians from taking the vaccines, noting that attempts in some quarters to tie the issue to the alleged poor distribution of the palliatives from the Federal Government during the resultant lockdown was unnecessary.

Dr Chikezie said, “We have seen that the vaccination has actually helped in many places where the level of the ravaging COVID-19 was high before the introduction of vaccines; and, it has been effective in cutting down the rate with which the virus spreads.

“This is also to clear the rumour that the issue of magnet is not true, the issue of putting chips to destroy your DNA is not correct. I think I was the second person that took the vaccine in Enugu State and since March to this December I am still kicking fine. Today, my family members have taken the vaccine,. including my parent.

“So, all the myth we have been hearing about the vaccine is not true and we want people to debunk it and we need to vaccinate ourselves to get this covid out of our way and continue the way the world was going before.

“It is unfortunate that we have such a low vaccine coverage in Africa. It is abysmal, it’s certainly not acceptable.

Nigeria and Africa must brace up the challenge bearing in mind that Africa has often shouldered the brunt of ravaging or endemic diseases in the world, he said.

“We know Africa has been carrying the burden of diseases. When you think of infant and maternal mortality, it is higher in Africa. Infectious disease rate is higher in Africa, so the burden of disease has always been high for the continent.

“So, having the whole of Africa, less than 7%, Nigeria struggling at less than 4% is so abysmal. What do we do? We ask that every key stakeholder, join forces, sees this as something that concerns all of us, that we debunk the rumours and myth and let the people take this vaccines, so we can actually improve on our statistics.

“Where you have the United Arab Emirates and the developed world doing 70%, some clocking as much as 98% of vaccines coverage, you can just understand that if this infection mutates and becomes an endemic issue in the world, Africa will bear the burden.

“That means you divert monies you should have been used in doing some other gainful things to begin to treat diseases that are preventable. We appeal to informed stakeholders, please debunk the rumours so our people can take the vaccine.”

On pessimistic views of many of the people that whereas they were not given palliatives but we’re being forced to take the vaccines, “that Government doesn’t usually bring something that is good”, Chikezie said, “But we keep telling them that those vaccines are not solely controlled by the government and that the vaccine is meant forward them. That those that denied the people the palliative are the corrupt politicians but that similar things are not seen in our immunization system and that this is quite different, which has to do with our own lives.”

UNICEF Commmunications Officer, Dr (Mrs) Ijeoma Onuoha-Ogwe, UNICEF Enugu Field Office, pointed out that the media dialogue was designed to bring media practitioners to meet medical experts currently working on the vaccination against the Coranavirus, saying that there were certain issues around the pandemic the media needed to be abreast in order to continue to report a accurately on the subject especially to step up vaccination in Nigeria.