Vaccination hesitation is fueled by several unsubstantiated beliefs, from fear of side effects to suspicion of an international conspiracy. Three common fears dismantled by the facts.
1- The degree of protection
Doubt about the degree of protection is one of the most popular arguments for rejecting the anti-Covid vaccine. WHO is clear on the subject. The vaccine does not prevent contracting the virus but protects against its severe forms. Complications of the disease are the basis of many deaths recorded and sometimes irreversible sequelae. ” A vaccinated person is very unlikely to end up in the hospital if they contract the virus. This is already a huge benefit for our health systems with insufficient technical facilities »Explains Dr Phanuel Habimana, WHO Resident Representative in Cameroon. The benefit of the vaccine can be clearly seen in the difference in the course of the disease between countries with high vaccination coverage and others. “In countries where anti-covid vaccination is doing well like England, we see that the number of hospitalizations linked to Covid has dropped drastically, even when the contamination rate remains high, there are fewer serious cases and a deaths close to zero. In African countries with strong vaccine hesitation, such as in Africa, hospitalization rates are red with each wave, which increases the probability of death in view of the technical inadequacies of health structures. »Dr Habimana continues.
2- Product reliability
The rapid marketing of anticovid vaccines has instilled some suspicion about its reliability. It should be understood that faced with the urgency of the pandemic, the global scientific community has worked hard to develop a vaccine that will bring the world out of the paralysis linked to Covid. ” Economies around the world have been threatened by this pandemic. The most powerful countries or geopolitical blocks, including companies, have therefore decided to put the means to get out of this doldrums. Laboratories had to get to work to be able to produce anti-doses to fight the pandemic »Explains Dr Nicolas YEBEGA, lecturer at the University of Ngaoundéré.
But the creation of Covid vaccines, like all the other vaccines already administered in Africa, was carried out in compliance with the major validation steps required to ensure its safety. ” The vaccines are approved by the European Medicines Agency, the same which validates pharmaceutical products in circulation in our countries. So there is a whole science behind that guarantees the reliability of validated vaccines. »Reassures Phanuel Habimana.
To understand how vaccines work, Dr Habimana explains that “ The virus responsible for the pandemic has a thorn, called a “Spike protein”, this is the most important because it allows it to attack and enter a cell. When you get vaccinated or get sick, you make antibodies that just attach to the virus’s spike proteins, so when the antibodies have covered all of the spines, the virus can no longer attach itself to the cells to enter them. This protective effect of vaccination ends up killing the virus because a virus cannot live outside a cell. “. So throw your fears in the trash and get vaccinated with confidence.
3- fear of side effects
The fear of the side effects of the Covid vaccine animates some skeptics of the anti-covid vaccination. But testimonials on the subject vary from person to person with symptoms always mild. ” I had headaches and body aches after getting the vaccine but it didn’t really last. Barely three hours after the injection, I felt nothing »Says Dulcie Bassoglog, resident of Yaoundé. Dorothée Messina, on the other hand, did not experience any side effects after her injection. “JI just had a little pain in the arm, at the level of the bite but that’s all, I was able to return to work without any worries, ”she says. While immunization to the coronavirus can be without side effects, the health ministry points out that it is possible to experience mild headaches, fatigue, pain at the injection site, diarrhea, and muscle pain after vaccination. ” The side effects are monitored daily and it has been observed that there have been no serious side effects since the start of the vaccination against Covid in Cameroon. We must find a way to communicate this good news. The effects felt by some relate to what is called AEFI in our jargon. That is to say, Post-Immunization Adversary Manifestations » details the WHO Representative in Cameroon. These same side effects are common with other vaccine services in Cameroon and therefore should not deter you from protecting us.
4- The importance of the vaccine for Africa
One of the recurring debates is that of the advisability of vaccinating the continent when it has been the least affected by the Covid19 pandemic so far. You should know that this pandemic has not only had health consequences but also economic consequences. “Not only do international relations have a foundation of solidarity, but in addition, the international community is looking for collective immunity. The occurrence of a pandemic should not prevent the international mobility of people and goods. Exchanges must continue and international life must resume its course. This is the reason why no continent can stay away from vaccination which is recognized as the only means of protection of populations and nations. »Reports Dr Nicolas Yebega, expert in international relations and lecturer at the University of Ngaoundéré.
In addition, the African continent remains one of the most exposed to new waves, with the confirmed circulation of the Alpha and Delta variants since July 2021. The Delta variant, reputed to be more contagious, has been circulating in Cameroon since August 2021 with the effect of a notable increase in the number of cases in recent weeks. (See graph). The high degree of contagion of Sars Cov2 and its variants makes it a perpetual threat to our populations and our economies.
« If it were a virus like Ebola that attacks a village and remains confined to a district or country with a relatively small number of cases, the threat would be less. But covid is transmitted through respiration and therefore very widely. The disease still killed 4.4 million people worldwide. It has caused deep disruption and a recession in our economies that is likely to continue if we do not get out of it. The vaccine is the only way out to get back on your feet »Explains the WHO Representative in Cameroon.
It is therefore more than urgent to increase the number of immunized people on the continent to contain the disease. The risk of an unvaccinated Africa will be the concentration of the disease on the continent.
5- conspiracy theory
The Covid pandemic was accompanied by a major infodemic. That is to say a massive spread of false information around the virus. The conspiracy theories around Covid vaccines are numerous and roam the pages of social networks. The most shared is the one which asserts that Western countries would like to exterminate Africans using the Covid vaccine. Apart from being far-fetched, this theory is not supported by any facts. “I don’t know why vaccines are the most malleable commodity in conspiracy theories. I don’t think there is a people who want to harm us Africans, and even so, they have many other means to reach us. Many of the things we use on the continent come from elsewhere. Our toothpastes, cosmetics, medicines, equipment, telephones etc. If there really was an attempt to exterminate us, we wouldn’t have to wait for a pandemic for that. So no, don’t get distracted and trust the official media and government news. We have a common challenge that we must absolutely take up to continue the march towards the development of our continent, towards the emergence of Cameroon and the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals.
Régine Gwladys LEBOUDA @Gwladys_Lebouda
This OUTBREAK article was supported by Code for Africa’s WanaData program as part of the Data4COVID19 Africa Challenge organized by the French Development Agency (AFD), Expertise France and The GovLab ”.
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