At first, I didn’t see how dangerous the covid-19 virus was. I was seeing from TV how Chinese were suffering and I thought it would not reach us in Uganda. When wave two came in I got scared seeing our people dying. But I felt a bit encouraged because I had gotten my first doze of the vaccine in May 2021.
I got inspired to get vaccinated by my fellow Innovator, Opollo James, who told me that after the vaccination he felt very normal and the vaccine was for free. I moved so quickly, very early in the morning, to make it to the line, but there was a lot of confusion.
We were given consent forms to fill and after filling the form again the doctor in charge came in and said the vaccine is little, so they will start with the elderly and teachers for the moment. Since, I am a trained teacher, I thought I was going to get my injection quickly, but again they started asking for school identity cards and I didn’t have one.
I got very annoyed, but later we had to follow a very long line and got vaccinated after standing for six hours. I am happy that am a bit covered with the vaccine, but what I see with the rest of the youth I have interacted with, they are saying covid is not real.
Others say they will drink a lot of alcohol and some tell me that I will die in two-years, because the vaccine is fake. This is especially so with my 28-years old neighbour. As for me, I keep encouraging people I encounter to vaccinate because I feel normal even after getting the vaccine.
By Sharon Acio Enon, a young adult that is benefiting from the CPAR Uganda project: “Mentoring young adults into innovators against poverty”, and because of that is also participating as a researcher in another CPAR Uganda project: “Challenging Categories: Educated unemployed youth as institutional innovators in rural Uganda” that CPAR Uganda is implementing in partnership with Lira University and the University of East Anglia.
CPAR Uganda Ltd 