ABSTRACT
The COVID-19 pandemic is a public health emergency on a global scale, and vaccination has been shown to be effective in containing the pandemic. Social issues surrounding COVID-19 vaccination contribute to the level of skepticism and opposition expressed by a sizable proportion of the global population. The need to address socio-cultural and religious standpoints on COVID-19 immunization and related discussions is becoming more pressing as the pandemic's socioeconomic implications become more concerning. Without a doubt, failing to address social issues jeopardizes countries' ability to achieve the WHO-recommended 70 percent coverage target for all countries, which would halt the pandemic by creating a global herd immunity. In this article, we discussed some of these social issues as well as emerging strategies for addressing these challenges and driving a rapid increase in COVID-19 vaccine uptake.
ABSTRACT
COVID-19 continues to strain, stress, and stretch health systems globally. With the development of the COVID-19 vaccines, there are many issues still lurking behind the widespread coverage; one of which is COVID-19 vaccine nationalism and African countries are not exempted from these issues. This is evident in that many countries in the African region missed the earlier targets set by World Health Organization (WHO) for COVID-19 vaccination coverage. The WHO further set a target of 70% coverage of the COVID-19 vaccines for all countries by June 2022. In this article, we discuss the possible reasons why many African countries are struggling and may not achieve the COVID-19 vaccination target in 2022. With the fundamental issues facing COVID-19 vaccination ranging from nationalism to hesitancy, it is important that stakeholders continue to work harder to ensure that the continent is not left behind in the race to keep the world free and safe from the sting of the COVID-19 pandemic.