Youths from Plateau Central Zone consisting of Bokkos, Mangu, Pankshin, Kanke & Kanam LGAs converged at Chorbe Pankshin LGA, the Headquarters of Plateau Central Zone on Friday 17th June, 2022 where they were sensitized on the safety and effectiveness of the COVID-19 Vaccines at a Town hall meeting organized by Cmr. Friday Bako a Blogger and Social Media Influencer with support from Centre for Information Technology And Development (CITAD) and the MacArthur Foundation in their COVID-19 Vaccine Public Education Project.

Cmr. Friday Bako said the town hall meeting was aimed at creating more awareness on the COVID-19 vaccines which he said is targeted at increasing uptake of the vaccines, drastically reducing hesitancy and making sure the vaccine reaches marginalized Groups.
He said the town hall meeting targeted youth Influencers owing to the key roles they play in their various communities and said it was an avenue to be well equipped about the virus and the safety and efficacy of the vaccines.

He appreciated the contributions of CITAD and Macarthur Foundation for the roles they are playing in sensitizing the public and fight against the dreaded virus that has adversely affected the World economically, socially, culturally and in other dimensions.

While delivery a paper on “COVID-19 Vaccines Safety and Effectiveness” Dr. Mashor Mbwas a Public Health Policy Manger, Consultant Pathologist with Bingham University Teaching Hospital and the Financial Secretary Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) Jos Chapter said the impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the World economies made governments of different Countries to be united to come up with a speedy remedy to the virus which brought about travel restrictions which affected economic, religious, tourism and other important global activities.
He urged the youths to get vaccinated and said they should clear all doubts and fears as the vaccines were certified by the United States Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) to be safe and efficacious having passed through clinical trials and other safety regulations.
“The more we all take the vaccine, the more we all get immunity against the vaccine, It means that the virus will not have any conducive environment to multiply and therefore we will stop the multiplication of the virus around and then with time the elimination the virus as such it must be a collective effort” he said.
He charged the participants to discard hesitancy and accept the vaccines in order to achieve herd immunity which will stop the virus from spreading further.

According to him, it is important for the larger part of the population to be vaccinated than having just a small portion taking the vaccines so that better immunity can be achieved.

He went further to clear the air on the misinformation that the vaccines causes infertility, death and other negative side affect saying they are fallacious.

According to him, there is no evidence that the vaccines can cause impotency, miscarriage or death saying the World Health Organization (WHO) which is responsible for international public health has endorsed the vaccines in circulation both for emergency and full use.

Some of the Participants who spoke after the meeting appreciated the organizers for sensitizing them on the COVID-19 Vaccines, they said they are better equipped and will step down what they have learnt to others to increase the acceptability of the vaccines.

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Cmr. Friday Bako Takes COVID-19 Vaccine Sensitization Drive to Plateau Central Zone