Tesfaye Getnet | May 2, 2022
News Brief
Samuel Abate is on his way to the hospital to get vaccinated against COVID-19—although his wife does not agree with his decision. A few months ago, Mr. Abate and his wife had a tense debate after he told her he wanted to be vaccinated against COVID-19. Mrs. Belay did not want her husband to get vaccinated because her friends and relatives told her that the COVID-19 vaccine is satanic, makes people infertile, and causes medical problems. Mr. Abate told his wife that she was believing in myths and that he had sufficient information on the advantages of the vaccine. Mr. Abate says that after he got vaccinated, his wife and friends who expected that he would get sick and experience many side effects were surprised. He says: “As time passes by, many people that did not get vaccinated, including my wife, were coughing and were feeling headaches and other signs of COVID-19. But I was fine because the vaccination I received helped me to not easily catch COVID-19.”
Samuel Abate wakes up early and puts on a grey jacket to fight the cold, foggy air. He is on his way to the hospital to get vaccinated against COVID-19—although his wife does not agree with his decision.
Before he leaves the house, his wife Etabez Belay says, “Good luck, my husband, but don’t blame anyone if something happens to your health after you take the COVID-19 vaccine. Blame yourself.”
Mr. Abate, who lives in Addis Ababa, the capital city of Ethiopia, does not reply. He just smiles at his wife and leaves the house. He takes a taxi to Alert hospital, about 20 kilometres from his home.
When he arrives around nine o’clock, a guard tells him to go to the hall and attend an orientation before receiving the vaccine. Around 100 people are sitting on chairs and Mr. Abate joins them.
A few months ago, Mr. Abate and his wife had a tense debate after he told her he wanted to be vaccinated against COVID-19.
Mrs. Belay did not want her husband to get vaccinated because her friends and relatives told her that the COVID-19 vaccine is satanic, makes people infertile, and causes medical problems.
One day during dinner, Mrs. Belay says she couldn’t hold back about the vaccine any longer. But she also realized that she could not stop her husband from getting vaccinated.
She told her husband: “You are not logical. You act as if you know many things, but you don’t know. How will you get a vaccine when you have no idea how they manufacture it, how it works, and what kind of impact it will have on your health?”
Mr. Abate told his wife that what she was believing in myths and that he had sufficient information on the advantages of the vaccine.
He recalls saying: “Don’t reject the vaccine without learning about it. I am a journalist, and at least I am asking medical people for advice. I know that many people around the world are getting vaccinated.”
Mr. Abate is among the first people in Ethiopia to have received a COVID-19 vaccine. He says that the Ministry of Health gave this opportunity to journalists and other frontline workers first because they interact with people daily and are therefore more exposed to the virus.
Mr. Abate says he met a man at the hospital who was ready to be vaccinated but was nervous because of the many negative things he had heard from people about the COVID-19 vaccine.
He recalls: “Some people at the hospital were talking to each other about the effectiveness of the vaccine. One man called Abiy Tadese was wearing a mask and sitting next to me. He greeted me and we started a conversation.”
Mr. Tadese asked Mr. Abate if it was normal to feel uncomfortable about a medical treatment that they had not seen or received before.
Mr. Tadese explained, “People told me that I should not get vaccinated because the virus has been introduced by white people with the aim of decreasing the third world population. But I said to them that the virus is spreading fast and killing many people, including white people, and hence it was not fabricated for third world countries.”
As Mr. Tadese and Mr. Abate continued their conversation, a nurse came into the hall and conducted the vaccine orientation. She congratulated the participants for making a good choice for themselves because not everyone in Ethiopia was willing to be vaccinated.
Mr. Abate says, “She told us that we would get vaccinated in the next 20 minutes or so, and that we would get the next shot of the vaccine after one month.”
Mr. Abate says that after he got vaccinated, his wife and friends who expected that he would get sick and experience many side effects were surprised.
He says: “As time passes by, many people that did not get vaccinated, including my wife, were coughing and were feeling headaches and other signs of COVID-19. But I was fine because the vaccination I received helped me to not easily catch COVID-19.”
He adds: “Of course it is natural to resist vaccination because we haven’t experienced it. But after the start COVID-19 vaccination, the global numbers of new infections and deaths decreased, which means that the vaccine was working to minimize the impact of COVID-19. So everyone should be inoculated like me.”
This resource is funded by the Government of Canada through Global Affairs Canada as part of the Life-saving Public Health and Vaccine Communication at Scale in sub-Saharan Africa (or VACS) project.
Photo: A study volunteer receives inoculation at Redemption Hospital in Monrovia on the opening day in Liberia of PREVAC, a Phase 2 Ebola vaccine trial in West Africa. Credit: NIAID.