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The vaccination scenario has become quite common and plays out on a regular basis on social media and television screens around the globe as part of newscasts on topics dealing with Covid 19 and the pandemic. People ready to be vaccinated go to a designated location, take a seat, roll up a sleeve, and a health worker does the job he or she has been trained to do. The vaccine is administered and they’re on their way home. No big deal, that is, if the person is not famous or a celebrity of some kind. It is a totally different story when the person vaccinated is a prominent leader or a celebrity. What is a simple clinical procedure for others becomes a public event. Lately, getting vaccinated has been transformed from a very simple private affair into a social and political event to be hyped, publicized and marketed to the public in ways that make them look like a staged public ceremony. And for all the right reasons.

President Paul Kagame of Rwanda being vaccinated.

When Oprah Winfrey was vaccinated, it made the headlines. So did President Biden and Dolly Parton. News of their vaccination reverberated around the world, hyped by the media and social media for the impact expected to be made by the mere fact that they had been vaccinated. Dolly Parton was reported to have made a statement urging the public to stop being cowards and to go and get vaccinated. President Biden made a similar statement.

African leaders and celebrities appear to have taken the initiative and played a significant role in efforts to get the public to go out and get vaccinated. Quite a few have been vaccinated. Paul Kagame of Rwanda and Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo have had their shots. Both leaders received considerable publicity when they were vaccinated. For a leader of a country, it has become a powerful and effective way to demonstrate how serious they take the pandemic and the efforts to fight the pandemic. Rolling up their sleeves and being vaccinated, the presidents of Ghana and Rwanda have shown what leading by example is all about and their commitment to doing everything within their power to fight it. They have delivered the message that nothing much else is as important as being vaccinated when it comes to the pandemic.

POTENTIAL IMPACT ON NAYSAYERS AND THOSE NOT WILLING TO GET THE VACCINE

Political leaders and celebrities have moved into the center stage of the efforts to fight the pandemic for one reason; lots of people are not willing to get vaccinated. Reports in the media have indicated that there is a widespread lack of enthusiasm on the part of many in black communities to embrace the notion that the vaccine will provide some form of protection against the virus. They just don’t believe that the vaccine would protect them from getting infected. As far as they are concerned, they are better off without the vaccine. Some are reported to have the notion that the vaccine might make them even more vulnerable to other diseases. In spite of the warnings by health agencies and other government agencies about the risks involved in refusing to be vaccinated, many have not been swayed and continue to stick with the decision they have made not to be vaccinated.

It’s not been easy to find a solution to the problem of people refusing to be vaccinated. It raises many questions, not the least of which is whether people have the right to refuse to participate in a government sanctioned process considered to be vital to the health and safety of the rest of society. No one knows how it would play out in the end. Meanwhile, Americans are trying other ways of convincing people to go out and get vaccinated. They have launched a lottery premised on the notion of winning big money. How about the chance of winning a million dollars just for getting vaccinated? Not surprisingly, it appears to be working. According to media reports, the numbers of people getting the vaccine have increased since the lotto was announced. Will Africa have the same problem when they get enough vaccines? We’ll just have to say we’ll cross that bridge when we get there.