Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) has said that two-thirds of Africans said they will accept COVID-19 vaccines.
This was contained in a survey conducted by the Partnership for Evidence-Based Response to COVID-19 (PERC) Consortium.
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The Nigeria Country Representative of Resolve to Save Lives, Dr. Emmanuel Agogo, who spoke during a webinar on Wednesday, outlined the reasons for vaccine hesitancy identified in the research.
The webinar hosted by the Africa CDC; public strategy firm, Gatefield, and the Global Health Advocacy Incubator, was to engage journalists on COVID-19 vaccines safety, effectiveness, and distribution.
Agogo said that in the 19 member countries, including Nigeria, surveyed, 91 percent of the people surveyed in Morocco were most interested in receiving the vaccines while Tunisia and Cameroon had the lowest number of people, at 35 percent respectively.
The report also disclosed levels of acceptability in other countries as Nigeria (72%), South Africa (61%), Zimbabwe (61%), Zambia (53%), Mozambique (75%), Egypt (78%), and the Democratic Republic of Congo (52%).
The PERC Consortium was made up of public health organizations like the Africa Centre for Diseases Control and Prevention; Resolve to Save Lives, an initiative of Vital Strategies; the World Health Organization; the UK Public Health Rapid Support Team; the World Economic Forum and private sector firms such as market research company, Ipsos.
The report says that the new briefs (part of the third series of data collection and analysis from PERC) combine results from phone surveys on the impact of public health and social measures (PHSMs) with information on epidemiological trends, media monitoring, and data on population mobility.
Dr. Agogo, also urged the media to take responsibility for enlightening audiences.
He said, “Journalists can inform and increase public confidence in vaccines.”
He further urged journalists not to be sensational in reporting on vaccines since many myths are perpetuated, but they should instead distribute reliable and accurate information.
He said, “Journalists should do research, check the facts and use trusted sources of information.”
On his part, Dr. Ouma that the African Taskforce for Coronavirus (AFTCOR) had determined based on evidence, that the benefits of the vaccines outweigh its risks.
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