African Union’s Economic Social and Cultural Council (ECOSOCC) and other development stakeholders have called on Africans to take the Covid-19 vaccines.
ECOSOCC, in partnership with the African Development Bank (AfDB) and the Africa CDC, made the call during an online Covid-19 Vaccination Sensitisation campaign.
The campaign is aimed at ensuring the wider African public accesses verified information on the Covid-19 vaccine from authoritative sources.
Reports say anti-vaccine groups are waging a social media misinformation campaign to disrupt plans to roll out Covid-19 vaccines in Africa.
The groups are spreading misinformation about the vaccines with the aim of influencing the public to reject the shots.
Public health experts agree that vaccination remains the only realistic path to finally halting the spread of the virus.
Opening the webinar series, ECOSOCC Acting Presiding Officer, Denise Kodhe, said the various vaccines that recently underwent clinical and regulatory tests are safe and effective.
He commended the African Union for safeguarding lives in Africa through Africa CDC by procuring 1.27 billion doses of vaccines estimated to be enough to vaccinate about 60 percent of Africa’s population.
The webinar had a high level panel that included the Africa CDC Director, Dr John Nkengasong, Pull For Progress Executive Director, Dr Moumini Niaone, and AIMES Afrique President, Dr Serge Kodom.
Nkengasong gave an overview of the Covid-19 situation in Africa, including the Africa CDC’s Covid-19 response and the current distribution of the vaccines.
He stated that over 105,000 people in Africa have died from Covid-19 since February 2020, emphasising that for Africa to beat the pandemic, there was need for a multilateral approach in addition to getting vaccinated.
Source: Africanews
Photo source: Africa CDC
