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Revealed: What FG Must Do To Dispel Covid-19 Vaccination Fear
There seems to be an unending argument between the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) and the Federal Government of Nigeria over the administration of the COVID-19 vaccine.
As CAN demands that President Muhammadu Buhari and other top government officials should be first to be vaccinated in public. The demand came just as the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Boss Mustapha, advised Christian leaders not to take COVID-19 conspiracy theorists seriously.
Although, there have been conspiracy theories about the COVID-19 vaccines and CAN advise that fears would be dispelled if officials take the vaccination first.
CAN President, Rev Dr. Samson Ayokunle, spoke at a meeting organised by the National Primary Healthcare Development Agency (NPHCDA) to sensitise Christian Religious leaders on COVID-19 vaccine in Abuja.
In his words, “We have to do vaccination by example, all the people in authority must do their vaccination publicly under the watch of national television stations like Channels and AIT. Don’t do it in the secret, don’t go to Aso Rock and do it, we want to see you on Channels, AIT, it is after you have got your own that I will get it”
“When people see that we have done it like that, the fear factor will be removed and we will get that breakthrough we are looking for. A lot of publicity campaigns have to be done through the churches, mosques and markets before the introduction of the vaccine to disabuse the minds of our people and to make them accept the vaccines.”
Meanwhile, the SGF boss told the religious leaders that Nigeria, like the rest of the world, had been experiencing the more infectious second wave, which increased the number of COVID-19 related deaths from 1173 on November 29, 2020, to 1,578 on January 31, 2021, an increase of 34 per cent.
The SGF observed that global infections had exceeded 100 million while fatalities had crossed two million.
He noted that the arrival of vaccines has however given hope to humanity that a solution had been found, adding that this does not, however, mean that the NPIs will be discarded.
The SGF emphasized that nobody is safe around the world until everyone is vaccinated and this informed government’s decision to sensitise and seek the inputs of religious leaders on the strategy to be jointly adopted and the role they will play in carrying the message on vaccines to Christians.
According to him, “While we continue to push the frontiers of compliance with the NPIs through all means, including collaboration with the sub-national entities, faith-based organisations, community engagement and through legal instruments such as the recently issued Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) Health Protection Regulations 2021, the role of the church in the escalation of the awareness on COVID-19, vaccines and minimisation of resistance and hesitancy to it, can never be overemphasised.
“As we interact over all these issues and challenges today, I urge us to be frank, innovative and adopt common objectives of collaboration and determination to overcome the pandemic by reaching out to all adherents of our faith on the safety and effectiveness of the vaccines. Every Christian should be an advocate for the vaccines” he noted.
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