Two-third of Africans willing to receive COVID-19 vaccine — Survey

Two-third of Africans interviewed have expressed their willingness to accept the COVID-19 vaccines  Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) has said.

Africa CDC disclosed this in a statement from its Addis Ababa, Ethiopia headquarter on Thursday.

This was revealed as part of the findings of a report released by the Partnership for Evidence- Based Response to COVID-19 (PERC) Consortium.

The consortium is made up of public health organisations such as the Africa CDC; Resolve to Save Lives, an initiative of Vital Strategies; the World Health Organization (WHO).

Some other organisations that make up the consortium are the UK Public Health Rapid Support Team; World Economic Forum (WEF) and private sector firms such as market research company, Ipsos.

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.

According to the statement, the sentiment on willingness to take the COVID-19 jabs varied across the continent.

“In the 19 member countries surveyed, 91 per cent of the people surveyed in Morocco were mostly interested in receiving the vaccines,  while Tunisia and Cameroon had the lowest number of people, at 35 per cent,” it said.

It disclosed levels of acceptability in other countries with Nigeria at 72 per cent; South Africa and Zimbabwe being 61 per cent each;  Zambia 53 per cent and Mozambique 75 per cent.

The report noted that Egypt had 78 per cent, Kenya 59 per cent, and the Democratic Republic of Congo had 52 per cent.

Dr Ahmed Ouma,  Deputy Director, Africa CDC, recommended that African countries should continue with  the rollout of the vaccine.

Ouma noted that the African Taskforce for Coronavirus (AFTCOR) had disclosed based on evidence that the benefits of the vaccines outweigh its risks.

Also, Dr Emmanuel Agogo, Nigeria Country Representative, Resolve to Save Lives, urged the media to take responsibility for enlightening audiences toward improving vaccine acceptance.

He advised journalists to shun sensationalism in their report on vaccines, dispel myths with reliable and accurate information, research, fact check and use trusted sources of information to enhance their reports.