Covid-19 Vaccine Resistance: medical professionals assess anti-vaccination sentiments

On April 28, 2021 some medical professional from state universities and Health Establishments met in Yaoundé in order to assess the reasons why most Cameroonians are hostile to an idea of a Covid-19 vaccine.

The meeting was chaired by the Dean of the Faculty of Medicine and Biomedical Science of the University of Yaounde 1, Professor Jacqueline Ze Minkande.

National Bilingual Daily Newspaper, Cameroon Tribune reports that most of the reasons arrived at during the symposium, centered around conspiracies theories which circulated around social media, coupled with the inability of Health officials to push forward the positive agenda of the necessity of an Anti-Covid-19 vaccine.

It was advanced that Cameroonians believe amongst other things that the vaccines were responsible for numerous Cardiovascular diseases, and cases of infertility amongst a long list of concerns.

Such theories have made Cameroonians to withhold from taking any vaccine, with suspicions at a record high against a health system which they feel they can no longer trust.

It was agreed by the Health officials at the symposium that the health sector will have to look for a better strategy of communicating with the public so as to counter the Anti-Covid-19 vaccine propaganda and to get people to turn out willingly for the vaccine.

Amongst other things that were agreed during the meeting, the personnel agreed that they would have to embark on a massive sensitization campaign, to convince the population to seeing the need for the vaccine as a vital means of combating the spread of the Coronavirus in Cameroon.