Value Health Africa Bridges Barriers Of COVID-19 Vaccine Reluctance

 


By Tarhyang Enowbikah Tabe With Reports

Leading health Civil Society Organization, Value Health Africa has taken steps to dispel worries and misinformation linked to the COVID-19 Vaccine which is making rounds at the entry ports of many countries in the world and Africa in Particular.

According to Mercy Kyeng of Value Health Africa, the arrival of COVID-19 vaccine in some African countries was received with mixed feelings increasing tensions and assault on health care workers.

She added that Parents have boycotted their children from school and women have stopped routine vaccination of their children for fear of them being injected with the COVID-19 Vaccine.

Similarly, she noted that health care workers have been objects of assault as they are accused to siding with the government to administer COVID-19 vaccine to people without their knowledge.

Hence, Mercy Kyeng believes there is therefore a need to for the scientific community to put ideas together, share ideas and design the way forward.

The  two-day online international conference on the theme, “vaccine hesitancy, conspiracy theories and the way forward” that was organized by the Value Health Africa was therefore  was therefore intended to bridge this gap.

The conference therefore provided a platform to bridge the barriers leading to vaccine reluctance and resistance with focus on providing credible information about Covid-19 vaccine, to counter misinformation and conspiracy theories surrounding covid-19 vaccine

It also had as agenda to design the way forward for information management for pandemics and to foster individual and community acceptance of covid-19 vaccine.

During the conference, participants and speakers brainstormed on the need for an African regulatory board to regulate vaccines within the African continent, so that only vaccines thoroughly scrutinized and verified by African scientists should be accepted.

Public Health experts from the WHO, GAVI, Africa CDC, Ministries of Health and CSO representatives who took turns to educate the over 50 participants on how to manage misinformation about the Covid-19 pandemic and vaccine hesitancy.

At the close of business, a number of recommendations were taken that can help key stakeholders in managing the challenges that come with the pandemic and conspiracy theories around the vaccine.

Some of which include, extensive review of papers, surveys and research on COVID-19 to get the real picture of what is happening within the communities as well as frequent press briefings by all health structures and health state personnel to constantly update citizens on the developments.


Background

The COVID-19 Pandemic has greatly affected the world economy and has resulted to untold damage to lives and communities.

With over 100 million COVID-19 cases worldwide and over 2 million deaths and a continuous wide spread and resurgence in many countries, the battle against this virus is far from being over.

The resurgence of COVID-19 in many countries has been linked to the non- respect for barrier measures by individuals largely fueled by the misinformation and conspiracy theories surrounding the vaccine.

The entire world received a sigh of relieve after significant milestones of vaccine development was announced by the World Health Organization.

However instead of this great scientific progress being celebrated, the speed of vaccine development has further strengthen certain conspiracy theories thereby increasing hesitancy to the vaccine by most people.

With misinformation about COVID-19 vaccine trending all over social media and the drama surrounding the origin of the virus, most public health experts have warned of a stiff vaccine resistance especially among African states.


Related Work

Throughout 2020, Value Health Africa carried out series of research on” perceptions, attitudes and believes of Africans on COVID-19 and a possible COVID-19 vaccine in 4 African countries.

 Analysis of the research showed that only 5% of respondents had moderate knowledge of COVID-19. 33% of respondents did not even believe in the existence of the virus while a large 76% believed COVID-19 is not of natural origin.

Among the respondents, only 7% agree of taken a covid-19 vaccine if it is being developed.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Understanding The War In Ukraine: Looking Beyond The Surface (Part One)

Image
  By Dr. Sylvester Tabe Arrey (st.arrey@yahoo.com) (Sylvester is a Lecturer in the Department of International Relations and Conflict Resolution, University of Buea, Cameroon) This piece seeks to contribute in deepening the public's knowledge and understanding of the Russia-Ukraine conflict. What is Ukraine's offence? Why has Russia chosen to launch an offensive at this point and what exactly does it seek to achieve? What will happen next and where is the world heading? These and other questions have been attended to here. It may end up being a long piece but I appeal on you to exercise some patience and come along with me. On the international stage, states don't have permanent friends. Friendship lasts for only as long as the other party is still relevant to the fulfilment of their interests. It is common for them to share a bed with one party today and avoid them the next if their interests change and the fellow becomes irrelevant or too dangerous to stay close. Common i...
Read more

Professor Julius Oben Gives Nutritional Advice During Coronavirus Pandemic

Image
“Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the first case in Cameroon of which was reported by the Ministry of Health on March 6 2020.   To date, more than 800 cases have been reported in Cameroon despite the measures that were put in place by the governm ent. Key amongst these measures were recommendations on hygiene (handwashing and/or hand sanitizing) and social distancing aimed at limiting transmission. Other theories have been put forward as to how best to manage COVID-19, ranging from the use of pharmaceutical products like chloroquine to food supplements.   For any of these to merit any serious consideration, it is important to know how the body actually reacts to viral infections.   The human body generally has the appropriate mechanisms to defend itself against bacterial or viral (pathogen) attacks.    The first line of defense is generally through ...
Read more

Dr Mrs. Agbor Meg Crowned "EKANDIM"

Image
  By Tarhyang Enowbikah Tabe Dr Mrs. Meg Agbor has been crowned with the EKANDIM title in Manyu Division, Southwest Region of Cameroon The Ekpe of Ndekwai in concert with Ekpes from Ossing, Ntenako, Talaghaya, Nchang, Egbekaw Nfuni etc crowned her as "EKANDIM" hours before this write up in Ndekwai village. According to a few Manyu Patriachs who witnessed the ceremony, the EKANDIM is kind of a female Sesseku. The highest title in the Ekpe   given to a woman who has distinguished herself in the society with acts of service, Mobilization of groups, building skills, representation and humanitarian works to her people etc. The population of Ndekwai village men, women and children gave up every other activity to receive and celebrate the day with her. The youths who are loyal to the Queen Mother rallied in Mamfe with their fleet of motorbikes, received her in a huge convoy from Mamfe to Ndekwai where she was forcefully whisked from her vehicle to a motorbike that was brou...
Read more