About 26 years after, the memory of the
(This is the final part of a two-part series on COVID-19 vaccination in Kano State. Read the first part here).
In 1996,
The pharmaceutical giant pledged to tackle the outbreak by testing the efficacy of its new antibiotic, 'Trovan.' The drug was tested on 200 young meningitis patients in Kano State, north-west
Barely a month later, 11 of the children that participated in the trial died of brain infections. Parents of other participants also reported disabilities among their children, majorly paralysis.
Although
The incident led to a long legal battle involving
While
About 24 years after the incident, the world was faced with the COVID-19 pandemic. Millions of people died from the disease including over 3,000 in
Some of these residents spoke to PREMIUM TIMES.
"Since that incident of paralysis and deaths of children, I can never trust any vaccines or medicine from
He said some residents are of the opinion that Europeans are trying to initiate Africans with the vaccines.
"Our people believe the Europeans are on a mission to plant a device in our body through their vaccines," he said.
Another resident,
"I'm one of those yet to take the COVID-19 vaccine and it will remain like that. My family and I will not take the vaccine because we don't trust the producers," he said.
Vaccine hesitancy
Vaccine hesitancy, mostly driven by a history of medical experiments, especially in
Such hesitancy does not only apply to situations where vaccine uptake is low because of poor availability but also because of distrust and safety concerns.
"As long as it's a vaccine or medicine from the westerners, I will not accept it. They can not be trusted," a taxi driver in
When
He said there are still ongoing awareness programmes involving religious and traditional leaders to educate people on the importance of accepting the vaccines.
"Such leaders are usually vaccinated first in the presence of everyone to encourage others to follow suit," he said.
COVID-19 in
Kano, the most populous state in
However, despite the hesitancy of some residents like
The state has fully vaccinated about 7.7 million people against the virus and over 3 million are partially vaccinated, according to data published by the
About 1.3 million people have also received the booster dose of vaccines, placing
The Deputy State Immunisation Officer (DSIO) in the state, Auwalu Idris, told PREMIUM TIMES that over 70 per cent of the targeted population have taken at least one shot of the COVID-19 vaccine.
However, for the state to vaccinate the remaining of its population, misinformation and vaccine hesitancy amongst others must be addressed.
Tackling Misinformation
Zainab Ghali, a community health worker at the vaccination centre in Tukuntawa, Kano Municipal Local Government Area, said some individuals visit the centre to share their worries and rumours spreading about the vaccines.
"There is a lot of misinformation out there about vaccines. Some persons even say the virus does not exist despite deaths recorded in different parts of the world," she said.
He said initially, only one or two persons visit the centre in a day. "But since the beginning of this year, we vaccinate 15-30 people on some days, and other days we vaccinate about 10 persons."
He explained that mothers who present their children for routine immunisation also use the opportunity to take their COVID-19 jab.
"So the establishment of vaccination centres in health facilities has also improved uptake," he said.
The Executive Secretary of Kano State's primary health care management board, Tijjani Hussaini, said the state employs the use of social media, the academia amongst others to ensure people understand the importance of taking the vaccine.
"At the onset of the pandemic, some fallacies like one dying after taking the vaccines, becoming a magnet amongst others were going around," he said. "We engaged medical experts, social media influencers and others to debunk rumours about the vaccines."
The official said some of these efforts yielded positive results and also led to an increased vaccination rate in the state.
However, the state will have to do more to convince Messrs Musa, Salisu and others who still suffer vaccine hesitancy, largely due to the
(This is the final part of a two-part series on COVID-19 vaccination in Kano State. Read the first part here.
The production of the stories is supported by the
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