Youths have been urged to lead an aggressive campaign that will encourage and increase the uptake of the COVID-19 Vaccine as the best remedy to combat the COVID-19 Pandemic and achieve a society free of the virus.

This admonition was made by a Public Affairs Commentator and the Deputy Chairman Plateau Youth Council (PYC), Nizhi Emmanuel who was a Guest today Thursday 23rd June, 2022 on the special COVID-19 Awareness Radio Programme at KT 103.9 FM put together by Cmr. Friday Bako with sponsorship from the Centre for Information Technology And Development (CITAD) and MacArthur Foundation.
While speaking on the topic “the role of the youth in encouraging COVID-19 Vaccine Uptake”, Nizhi said the global pandemic was an unexpected outbreak which threw the world into a state of confusion and shock considering it adverse impacts on the people and Nations. He described the pandemic as a global health challenge that shook the World.

While recounting the experience at the peak of the pandemic especially the lockdown period, the Youth Activist said many people were rendered jobless as companies were not operational and were making losses; lives were lost with social, religious, economic and cultural activities negatively affected.
He said the youths being at the forefront of policies and programmes were instrumental and played prominent roles in ensuring the COVID-19 protocols were strictly adhered to which greatly reduced the spread of the virus to a large extent.
He said the Plateau Youth Council which is the umbrella body of the youths in the State has been doing a lot in terms of creating awareness about the virus and the need for the general public to get the available vaccines produced to combat the scourge.

He decried how conspiracy theories, fake news and misinformation have adversely affected perception about the virus and the uptake of the vaccine.
While encouraging the people to ensure they are vaccinated against the disease on account of the safety and effectiveness of the vaccines which were approved by the global health organization and deemed fit for human use against the virus, he urged the citizens to ensure that they get and make use of the right information.
He said though the reaction of the public to the vaccines was not encouraging as it didn’t get the expected level of trust, it is important to be vaccinated since the vaccines have been certified safe and efficacious.

He said for the virus to be completely wiped, it is important for the people to be vaccinated.
He lauded the role played by CITAD/MacArthur Foundation in sensitizing the people about the virus and the need to be vaccinated.
He called on government at all levels to provide the necessary supports to persons and organizations involved in awareness campaigns to encourage them and ensure the vaccines are equitably supplied/distributed to marginalized rural communities so that people living there can have access to the vaccines as it is the case in urban areas.

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Nizhi Emmanuel Urges Youth to Lead Awareness Campaign that will Increase COVID-19 Vaccine Uptake