The Bauchi State chapter of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) on Monday described as false reports making the rounds on social media that the Christian community has rejected the ongoing vaccination against COVID-19 pandemic.
The state CAN Secretary, Reverend Matthew Wakili Laslimbo, refuted the report, in a press release he signed and made available to journalists in Bauchi.
He declared that Christians were obedient people and were committed to participating in the vaccination exercise.
According to the CAN scribe, contrary to the rumour, a number of Christians, including frontline workers and leaders, had taken the first jab of the COVID-19 vaccine, saying that this was despite the fact that the association’s executive members were not consulted in any form by the state government.
Laslimbo added that the association has been doing its best to sensitize not only Christians but also the entire people of the state to comply with Covid-19 protocols.
“In fact, quite a number of Christians frontline workers and leaders have taken the first jab of the vaccination and are waiting for the second jab.
“CAN being the mouthpiece of the community, none of the state excos, both the outgoing and the newly elected executive, were ever at any point consulted for any official meeting or submission at the state level in Bauchi on Covid-19 programme.
“Yet, as a matter of concern we at our level have been putting our best in sensitising not only the church but the entire society to comply with all the Covid-19 rules and protocol,” the CAN secretary stated.
He, however, dissociated the state’s Christians from any insinuation that the Covid-19 vaccine is anti-Christ and then called on medically fit Christians in the state to come out to take the vaccine.
“We, therefore, distance ourselves from pronouncements or any insinuation that Christians in Bauchi State have tagged the vaccination exercise as anti-Christian.
“I want to assure the government that no Christians in Bauchi State will deliberately not take the vaccination. I, therefore, call on all Christians that are medically fit to come out and take the vaccine,” Laslimbo said.
DAILY POST reports that the state Governor, Senator Balance Abdulkadir Mohammed, had on Saturday, 15 May, 2021, while flagging off the second phase of COVID-19 vaccination at the Government House, Bauchi, had lamented that the state Christian community had not fully participated in the first phase of the vaccination exercise.
According to him, security reports at his disposal indicated that Christians in the state have rejected the vaccination despite the fact that they are the most educated community in the state.
Governor Mohammed then said his administration would dialogue with the leadership of the Christian community in the state with a view to making sure that Christians come out to be vaccinated, saying that any refusal to be vaccinated would deprive them from embarking on holy pilgrimage to Jerusalem.
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