Understanding Vaccine Hesitancy in Nigeria

Join grantee Taiwo Adebulu at the Pulitzer Center office in Washington, D.C., for a conversation about vaccine hesitancy in Nigeria. Adebulu is the investigations and features editor at independent Nigerian outlet, TheCable. He partnered with the Pulitzer Center for his project Why Residents of Oil-Rich Niger Delta Communities Refused To Take COVID Vaccines.

Writing for TheCable, Adebulu documents hearsay, pseudo-scientific rationalizations, and charged testimonies for why residents of Ondo communities have largely rejected COVID-19 vaccines. The virus is dangerous: "I heard thaţ for anyone who contracts the disease, it’s over for them,” said one man. He’s put off vaccination, however, because he believes the jab might “reduce my chances of having children in the future.”

As quarantine restrictions have eased, many see no reason to vaccinate against a virus whose threat isn’t observed by the daily donning of masks and social distancing. Adebulu will talk about the future of messaging in the vaccine rollout, foreign influence, media literacy and accessibility, and what all of this might mean for the future of public health in the Ondo communities and Nigeria as a whole.

Adebulu’s forthcoming project supported by the Pulitzer Center is titled Nigerian State Winning War Against COVID Is Losing Its Children to Meningitis.

Senior Editor Susan Ferriss will moderate the event. Registration is required.