Omaheke Region Governor, Pijoo Nganate said the region is struggling to convince its inhabitants to get vaccinated against COVID-19 due to conspiracy theories and misinformation, which might affect reaching the targeted numbers.

Nganate said this in an interview with Nampa at Omitara over the weekend while responding to questions on the region’s progress with the vaccination campaign.

He said that Omaheke being one of the hardest hit regions in the country by the pandemic with close to 300 deaths representing a 7.2 per cent rate, the regional leadership launched a campaign called ‘Hope Amidst COVID-19’ with the effort of encouraging people to get vaccinated. However, the campaign is facing challenges of misinformation and some community members don’t want to get vaccinated.

“We decided to embark upon a strategy of going farm to farm and house to house to educate people on the benefit of the vaccine. But the only issue hampering us is the conspiracy theories, the negative publicity around the vaccine. I have seen it in one of the farms where apparently the community was told that they will die in two years’ time if they get vaccinated. Then I asked them if the president and his wife are vaccinated, does it mean they also want to die? Then I started seeing some positive responses,” said Nganate.

He shared that the region has vaccinated 16 800 people by Friday, 17 September 2021 and plans to vaccinate a total of 51 765 people by March 2022, adding he is optimistic that Omaheke has the capacity to reach its intended target.

“If we keep doing it the way we are currently doing it, the strategy of going from farm to farm and house to house, we can achieve it, I believe it’s attainable and very much possible,” said Nganate.

Minister of Justice, Yvonne Dausab has recently warned that misinformation about the virus is punishable by law and advised the public to desist from such practices.

Source: The Namibian Press Agency