Johannesburg’s young population is tired of the lockdown restrictions imposed by Covid-19 and eager to return to normal lives. Young people are urging their peers and everyone to get vaccinated to achieve this reality. This sentiment came up during the virtual engagement by the Speaker of Council, counselor Nonceba Molwele, on September 1.
Although Joburg has recently hit a milestone for vaccinating a million people, there is still a long way to go to get more people inoculated in the City. Molwele said that while there was eagerness among the youth between the ages of 18 and 35 to be vaccinated, there also appears to be most vaccine resistant group owing to misinformation, fake news, myths about the vaccines and a general lack of information.
“Many think they are still young and healthy enough not be vaccinated. Some believe they had previously contacted Covid-19 with less severe symptoms. They conclude by saying ‘why bother to be vaccinated’. Some travel in taxis every day and claim they never got Covid-19, so they don’t see a need to get vaccinated. Some still ask why there is a need to be vaccinated if you can still get sick after you have vaccinated,” said Molwele.
The speaker said she was concerned about fake videos that are circulating on social media causing apathy among young people. Gabriella Nechama Farber, a Wits Student Representative Council (SRC) representative, urged her peers and Joburg residents to get the vaccines for life to get to normal.
“Many young people want to go partying and in the process break protocols. Many Wits students haven’t experienced a university environment, instead they have experienced virtual interactions through their computers. This has compounded the issue of mental illness because the students are not socialising. Many are coming from rural areas of the country only to sit behind computers,” said Farber.
Farber had a harrowing experience last year after she contacted Covid-19, which landed her in the intensive care unit (ICU) because of her comorbidity. It was not long that her mother, whom she had infected with Covid-19, also joined her in ICU.
“Most people in the country still rely on traditional medicine to get help. Youth is also scared to take the vaccines because it has a long future ahead. Youth wants quick facts on hand about vaccines,” she said.
Dr Fundile Nyati, a specialist family physician and founder of Proactive Health Solutions, said one of the important weapons to fight Covid-19 was to get the right information.
“Fighting diseases starts with people getting the right information so that they can better prevent themselves from getting those diseases. Information dissemination is very crucial so that people make risk assessment strategy. Early detection or screening becomes part of fighting the diseases. The use of vaccines forms part of the strategy to manage diseases. Giving treatment and then lastly is rehabilitation for someone who is recovery from the illness,” said Dr Nyati.
Vusi Mazibuko, a representative of the City’s Health Department, said: “All drugs including vaccines have side effects, which should be expected. Sometimes people use the side effects as a deterrent for them not to get vaccinated. Some of the side effects after getting vaccinated include pain, swelling and redness. We monitor these side effects. You can take any pain killers for the pain.”
He said mostly commonly known vaccines side effects are, fever, chills, headache, fatigue, muscles ache and nausea. Most of these side effects are very mild.
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