African leaders and UNICEF partners have been called upon to redouble efforts in ensuring that the burden of the Coronavirus pandemic does not fall back on the continent such as the cases of malaria, HIV/AIDS among other global pandemics.
This was a fallout of a one-day media workshop organized by the United Nations Children’s Fund, UNICEF, Enugu Field Office, in Port Harcourt aimed at identifying media networks and framing the overall interest of women and children in the COVID-19 era.
Reports on records of COVID-19 World vaccination show more than 4.5 billion of about 59 percent of the world population have received a dose of COVID-19 vaccine.
The same record also revealed that Nigeria among other African countries is below the map of immunization coverage with about 3% of its population fully vaccinated as compared to some Western and Eastern countries who have achieved almost 100%.
This is a sad reality that the United Nations Children’s Fund is leading efforts through the training of journalists in the south-south to encourage mass vaccination.
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Rising concerns that are seen as a major setbacks in the immunization exercise are what a medical expert, Obasi Chikezie described as COVID-19 myths.
They include the death of a vaccinated patient after two years, ‘magnetic metals’ in the vaccines, ‘convulsion’, ‘ignition of electric bulbs’ by any vaccinated individual, amongst others.
Participants mostly those who have not been vaccinated said the programme was an eye-opener to them and expressed the readiness to share the knowledge they have garnered.y
The overriding theme of the workshop was the role of the mass media, accurately reporting the impact of COVID-19 on women and children: the need for mass vaccination.
Editor: Hadiza.A.A
