DW News published this video item, entitled “Why South Africans are so reluctant to get vaccinated | COVID-19 Special” – below is their description.
In South Africa, the vaccine train brings inoculations to remote communities. The country is now administering one million doses every four days. The government says it has secured sufficient vaccines to vaccinate the entire adult population.
So supply is no longer a constraint. Yet, vaccine hesitancy is hindering inoculation in the country worst hit by the pandemic in Africa.
Some are afraid of side effects. Others are scared of the needle. Another recurring concern is whether the jab could impact anti-retroviral drugs used to treat HIV, of which South Africa has the world’s highest prevalence. Others are afraid it could affect the fertility of men and women.
Doctors say vaccine hesitancy in South Africa is threatening the entire vaccination drive.
DW News YouTube Channel
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In This Story: HIV
The human immunodeficiency viruses (HIV) are two species of Lentivirus (a subgroup of retrovirus) that infect humans. Over time, they cause acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), a condition in which progressive failure of the immune system allows life-threatening opportunistic infections and cancers to thrive.
Without treatment, average survival time after infection with HIV is estimated to be 9 to 11 years, depending on the HIV subtype. In most cases, HIV is a sexually transmitted infection and occurs by contact with or transfer of blood, pre-ejaculate, semen, and vaginal fluids. Research has shown (for both same-sex and opposite-sex couples) that HIV is untransmittable through condomless sexual intercourse if the HIV-positive partner has a consistently undetectable viral load.
Non-sexual transmission can occur from an infected mother to her infant during pregnancy, during childbirth by exposure to her blood or vaginal fluid, and through breast milk. Within these bodily fluids, HIV is present as both free virus particles and virus within infected immune cells.
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