Ver Angola

Health

People afraid of coronavirus vaccination reject measles vaccination

A measles vaccination campaign in Malanje province was made impossible because parents refused to immunise their children, believing it was a test of vaccines against the new coronavirus.

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According to Frederico Muatshimbau, provincial supervisor of the Extended Vaccination Programme (EPI), the campaign would be promoted between 23 and 27 of this month, to stop a possible measles outbreak, which has already registered a total of 294 cases in the first quarter of this year.

The health official lamented the failure of the campaign, because a large part of the residents of two peripheral neighborhoods of the city of Malanje showed resistance to vaccination.

Frederico Muatshimbau, quoted by Angop, said that the population claimed to have knowledge from social networks that the new vaccines against covid-19 would be tested in African countries.

He also said that many families had presented measles vaccination cards from other campaigns to prove that children are immunised and do not need a new vaccine.

To overcome the situation, Frederico Muatshimbau said that the health authorities will turn to the Malanje municipal administration, which in turn will guide the sobas (traditional authorities) to raise awareness and clarify the population about the importance and necessity of vaccinating children against measles.

The blockade campaign provided immunization against measles, and at the same time, vitamin A in 33,986 children from six months to five years of age, from the Carreira de Tiro, Voanvola, Kizanga, Vila Matilde and Campo de Aviação districts, as well as from the municipalities of Ngola Luije and Cambaxe and the locality of Kibinda.

Despite the resistance of most of the population, the campaign reached 10,385 children.

On a global level, according to an assessment by the AFP news agency, the covid-19 pandemic has already caused more than 217,000 deaths and infected more than 3.1 million people in 193 countries and territories.

Nearly 860,000 patients have been considered cured.

The disease is transmitted by a new coronavirus detected at the end of December in Wuhan, a city in central China.

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