By Rauf Oyewole
A Social Behaviour Change Specialist with the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), George Eki warned opinion leaders in the country to desist from misconceptions, misleading and fictitious opinions about life-saving vaccines.
Eki, who was speaking at an orientation programme organised by the UN Agency in Gombe, said that no mother wishes to give birth to a crippled or blind child, saying that many opinion leaders have impacted negatively in the lives of many children through negative narratives about the preventive measures –vaccine.
He said that: “We have seen some religious organisations and individuals and even traditional institutions discouraging administration of vaccines which at the end led to a life threatening condition. We have witnessed where some celebrities mislead their followers from taking some medical advice and treatments.
“A popular family radio presenter in Abuja last year ignorantly rejected Human Papillomavirus Vaccine, saying that it was an attempt to control population through young girls and this has caused huge apathy in the vaccine campaign. I can tell you that we recorded a huge rejection of this vaccination against the free cervical cancer vaccines that cost more than N60,000 as at then in private hospitals,” he said.
According to him, there was a drop in uptake of polio vaccine in post COVID-19 because of some negative comments by some opioid leaders. “In 2019, nationwide polio vaccine reach was 89 per cent compared to 79 per cent in 2022.”
Eki charged fathers to encourage adminstration of vaccines particularly the October 2024 Integrated Vaccine Campaign. “We know that in some cases, husbands reject taking vaccines for their children, we really want them to be the champions of this. If you look at it, how many Nigerian governors got married to a crippled wife or a physically challenged wife? We need to prevent all of these and that is why we are calling parents to embrace the vaccine,” he said.
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