Traditional leaders in some rural parts of the Eastern Cape are calling on government to provide more information on vaccinations for rural people. They believe this will stop vaccine hesitancy amongst men.
Since the vaccination process began, the province has vaccinated just over one million people. Men account for 391-thousand of the vaccinated population while over 660-thousand are females. Traditional leader at KwaLindile village in Mthatha, Chief Ntabozuko Njemla, says conspiracy theories doing the rounds about vaccinations are triggering fear amongst men.
“We wish that we could get an expert who will tell us about how this vaccine works. Because there are people who say they won’t vaccinate because they still want to have children, as if the vaccine causes infertility amongst men. Others even say they still want to live longer because there are reports that after two or three years after you vaccinate you will die, so those are fears amongst men.”
Meanwhile, Health MEC Nomakhosazana Meth says the provincial government has plans in place to get more people vaccinated.
“We will be working with our traditional leadership to even take vaccination sites to the traditional councils in the rural areas. We’ll also be targeting Shisanyamas, malls, taxi ranks and restaurants in an attempt to encourage the men of our province to vaccinate.”
VIDEO: COVID-19 vaccination response in rural areas in the Eastern Cape:
