COVID-19: UNICEF, experts advocate media campaigns to tackle vaccine hesitancy

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), Vice-Chancellor of Federal University of Kashere, Gombe State and a lecturer at the Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics, Bayero University have said aggressive media campaign and community engagement by the media will stem the tide of COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy.

The experts agreed that passing across the right information, community engagement, strong advocacy and sensitisation would bring about the acceptance of the vaccine all over the country.

Speaking at a two-day media dialogue on Demand Creation on COVID-19 Vaccines in Kano, the UNICEF Chief of Field Office, Kano, Maulid Warfa represented by the Kano Head of WASH campaign said those who hesitate to take COVID-19 vaccine may have their reason for the hesitancy, while he stressed that the media and the community leaders have the role of giving them the right information about the efficacy of the vaccines.

He said the vaccines may not have a hundred per cent efficacy but said it would prevent and give herd immunity when fully taken.

Warfa urged the participants at the workshop to come out with a workable plan to help in eliminating the wrong perception about the vaccine.

In his presentation, the Vice-Chancellor of the Federal University of Kashere,  Gombe State, Professor Umar Pate, said there is a need to sensitize and provide those with the wrong notions about vaccines with facts on the vaccines.

Pate also insists on investments, a bailout for journalists is never a waste while presenting a paper on ‘Debunking Rumours and Conspiracy Theories about COVID-19 Vaccine” which highlighted the method of debunking the rumours to include engaging the informed media, community engagement, intensive awareness campaign, promotion of media and digital literacy and others.

Pate charged the media to be at the forefront of the campaign and always provide the public with the right information about the virus.

“Getting informed journalist is very important. Continuously engage on capacity building for them to believe in issues and know the intricacies involved”.

“Rumours will always exist but journalist needs to be properly trained to debunk all the rumours professionally”.

On his part, the Senior Lecturer, Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics at Bayero University, Kano, who is also an Immunologist and a Vaccine Development Expert, Dr Murtala Jubril said the COVID- 19 vaccine has 94 per cent efficacy, urging the public to go for the immunisation against the pandemic.

Jubril enjoined people to believe in the science of the pandemic and the vaccines being produced to combat it as scientists all over the world has devoted their time, energy and resources to save the world from the outbreak.

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