By XINHUA
Ongoing misinformation about COVID-19 vaccines is contributing to many people across Africa being skeptical of getting COVID-19 vaccine jabs, the African Union (AU) has said.
The statement was made by William Carew, head of the Secretariat of AU’s Economic Social and Cultural Council, as he urged the African populace to get vaccinated if herd immunity is to be achieved. Only some 3.6 percent of Africa’s population are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 so far.
“There has been a lot of misinformation about the COVID-19 vaccines that had contributed to many people being wary of getting vaccinated,” an AU statement issued Tuesday quoted Carew as saying.
Carew made the remarks during the COVID-19 vaccines capacity building and sensitization meeting, which was held recently as part of the Council’s continental sensitization campaign aimed at promoting the accessibility and use of the COVID-19 vaccines in order to build herd immunity in Africa.
He called on Africans to implement public health experts’ assertion that vaccination remains the only realistic path to finally halting the spread of the virus given its ease of transmissibility and ability to mutate.
“I want to urge you all to take this opportunity to get the right information about the vaccines and help us to educate the communities that you operate in,” Carew told representatives of African Civil Society Organizations attending the meeting.
