Are Nigerians Getting Vaccinated?

When Coronavirus first broke out, many believed it was deadly, and others thought it was a sham, something created by the government to carry out an evil plan—while some were faithfully following the guidelines set by the NCDC, others neglected washing their hands, wearing a mask and maintaining social distance.

State governments had to enforce a compulsory lockdown and mandate people to wear masks in public before many people took it seriously. Even though there are daily reports of people contracting and dying from Covid 19, many Nigerians refuse to believe it is real.

Even worse, those who believe in its existence refuse to be vaccinated. Videos circulate all over the internet spreading misinformation and stating that the Covid 19 vaccines could kill you. They say since you do not know what is in it, getting vaccinated is terrible.

Reports have shown that only 4.0% of the population has been fully vaccinated, a low number in a country with about 206 million people. Another reason most people go unvaccinated is that vaccines that come into the country have a short shelf life and expire before being used.

This has led to the destruction of many vaccines since they are practically useless. The underfunded healthcare system is also a part of the problem, and there are very few supplies like cotton swabs for testing. The poor power supply requires fridges that hold these vaccines to be kept on expensive generators.

The more vaccinated people, the higher the chances of ending the pandemic. According to the WHO, only 7.5% of the population in Africa have been fully vaccinated. With the new Omicron variant spreading, this is not a good look.