By Juliet Umeh

As the Omicron variant dominates the COVID-19 news cycle, a new report by the  Partnership for Evidence-based Response to Covid-19, PERC, has shown that 78 per cent of people in Africa are willing to be vaccinated.

The report said that across 19 countries surveyed, 78 per cent of people indicated that they had been or were willing to get vaccinated.

According to the report, “As of November 2021, less than seven per cent of the African continent has been vaccinated.

“This gap between acceptance and coverage demonstrates a substantial unmet need and underscores the importance of consistent and predictable vaccine supply as well as increased support for vaccination programs in Africa.

“The latest PERC report considers why global vaccination efforts have been plagued by inequity, as well as the logistical challenges to vaccinating the African continent.

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“The report further outlines the continued importance of preventive measures, particularly individual measures such as masking and social distancing that minimize the social or economic harm that can occur when mobility, economic and social gathering restrictions are imposed.”

Speaking on the report, Dr John Nkengasong,  who currently serves as the first  Director of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, Africa CDC, said: “We must work urgently toward equitable access to safe and effective vaccines on the African continent. The PERC data show that demand for vaccines is substantially higher than supply.

“In five surveyed countries, Guinea, Morocco, Mozambique, Tunisia and Zimbabwe, acceptance was 90 per cent or higher.

“Vaccine acceptance was high among both those who trusted their government’s pandemic response and those who felt COVID-19 posed a personal risk to them or to their country.”

Vanguard News Nigeria