Cameroon’s community leaders drive demand for Covid-19 vaccines

Despite the flood of information on Covid-19, there is still fear, doubt and scepticism around vaccination.

PRETORIA, September 17 (ANA) – Local leaders in Cameroon’s capital, Younde, have managed to achieve a Covid-19 vaccination drive that saw 52,000 people vaccinated across the country in just five days in July, World Health Organisation (WHO) has said on Friday.

The WHO says community leader Jean Calvin Nama-Ntse has worked with 2,300 community mobilisers and 1,450 vaccination teams to build trust in Covid-19 vaccines in the Nkomassia and Nkolbisson communities.

Nama-ntse is also a traditional chief, chairperson of the Nkolbisson health district and chairperson of the management committee at Nkolbisson’s Integrated Health Centre.

He has told the WHO that despite the success of the vaccination drive and the flood of information on Covid-19, there is still fear, doubt and scepticism about vaccination.

“Rumours and misinformation spreading on social media and dreamed up by certain people sow doubt and reluctance to get vaccinated, which leaves people at greater risk.

“In my experience, people who have had the disease or seen others suffer with it are far more aware of the risks and are much keener to get vaccinated. If we use more of these people as educators I’m sure they will raise the uptake of vaccines,” he said.

Nama-Ntse has said that when leaders are vaccinated in public, other people follow, especially big media personalities, artists and religious leaders.

“As a community leader I made a point of getting vaccinated in public,” he said.

To achieve success in the vaccination drive, Nama-Ntse said he joined workshops on how to mobilise communities and to advocate and access more resources for immunisation campaigns.

“I also joined City Council meetings led by district health officers. These help us raise demand for Covid-19 vaccines in our communities. About 300 people have been covered by these trainings so far and more are planned for this year.

“We’ve visited families to speak intimately with them. We’ve given talks to local associations and worked with local media. We’ve also worked with religious leaders and local government authorities on spreading prevention messages as they are trusted and people listen to them,” he said.

– African News Agency (ANA); Editing by Naomi Mackay