A Facebook page with more than 436 thousand followers posted an image on Dec 2, 2021, captioned, “1,287 soldiers were recruited from the Oromia regional forces to Join Oromo Liberation Army.” By the time this article was published, the post had more than 1000 reactions and was shared more than 300 times.
However, HaqCheck inspected the image and rendered it as FALSE.
Oromo Liberation Army (OLA) was a military wing of the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) which is claimed to split later on May 1, 2021. OLA, addressed by the Ethiopian Government as “Shane”, is designated as ‘Terrorist by the parliament. OLA is alleged to target civilians with human rights violations and gruel atrocities, especially in the East Wollega zone of the Oromia Regional State.
In August OLA announced its alliance with the Tigray Liberation Front (TPLF), which has been fighting the Ethiopian government since Nov 2020.
The current regional president of Oromia Regional State, Shimels Abdisa said, “Oromia government has started organizing the security forces in a new form to ensure the peace and security of people in the region.”
On Nov 15, 2021, the Oromia Regional State declared a curfew amid the state of emergency imposed by the Federal Government. To facilitate the ground for the security forces to monitor and control activities in the regional zones, woredas, and kebeles.
As the engagement between OLA and the regional forces continued, there are different claims that some members of Oromia Special Forces defected to join OLA.
OLA spokesman Odda Tarbii said in his tweet from Nov 4, “Today, 1,165 Oromia Special Forces defected to the OLA. 400 of them joined OLA forces in the vicinity of Laga Tafo. Our forces continue pushing on from all directions, we are very close to seeing the end of this oppressive dictatorship.”
It was such a framework of the current situation the Facebook post appeared.
A similar image was posted on a Twitter account on Mar 8, 2020, with a caption that reads, “Abiy Ahmed won’t be saved even by 20 million neftegnas & gobenas.”
Moreover, it is evident that a picture is captured from a cadet graduation video of the Oromia regional state special forces 30th round graduation.
Even though there are several claims that some members of Oromia Special Forces joined OLA, the image doesn’t show the soldiers recruited from the Special Forces to join OLA. Therefore HaqCheck analyzed the Facebook post and rendered it FALSE.
A compilation of images was shared on Nov 30 by a Facebook Page, having more than 435,600 followers and a Twitter Account with more than 1,500 followers, in support of a claim that Sudan has sent numerous troops to the border it shares with Ethiopia. However, HaqCheck has examined the images and rated the post as FALSE.
In November 2020, as Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed sent national defense forces to northern Ethiopia to encounter the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), Khartoum deployed soldiers at Al-Fashqa, a move the Ethiopian government considered a provocation.
This area shares borders with the Amhara Regional State of Ethiopia. and border demarcation is delayed for nearly a century.
The Sudanese military on Tuesday accused Ethiopian forces, for a second time in the past few days, of attacking its forces and civilians near the disputed border.
The Ethiopian government spokesperson Leggese Tullu denied the allegations that the Ethiopian army launched an attack on Sudanese troops, with a justification that “a large group of rebels, bandits, and terrorists have entered (from Sudan), and The Ethiopian National Defence Force and the local militia have eliminated them.”
However, HaqCheck has undertaken a reverse image search of the pictures to learn that the post doesn’t actually prove the claim.
The first image was taken in Dec 2016 while the Sudanese army was exercising in northern Sudan.
The second image was posted a year ago on Apr 10, 2020, on a website article presented in the Chinese language.
The third image was taken 14 years ago by S. Telliks. This photo was published on a website on 24 November 2019.
The last photo was published on Nov 21, 2021, on an Arabic website in an article entitled, “The Sudanese armed forces deny the occurrence of armed clashes with Ethiopia”
HaqCheck has analyzed the images and proved that they do not show the claim “Sudan has sent numerous troops to the border of Ethiopia” and rendered it FALSE.
A Facebook page with more than 75 thousand followers posted an image on Nov 28. The Amharic caption reads, “captured prosperity army members at the Kasagita, Afar front, yesterday.” By the time this article was published the post got more than 800 reactions.
The image is also posted by other pages and news sites in different contexts. HaqCheck looked into the image and rated it as FALSE.
Tigray People Liberation Front (TPLF) forces and the Federal Government of Ethiopia have been in an active war in northern Ethiopia since November 2020. At the end of June 2021, the Federal Government declared a sudden unilateral ceasefire and pulled out its troops from Tigray after a request from the Provisional Government of the region.
Thereafter, the TPLF forces had been advancing southward towards territories in the Amhara and the Afar Regional States. On Aug 5, 2021, TPLF forces took control of the town of Lalibela in the North Wollo zone of the Amhara Regional State.
Reports of fresh military offensives and counter-offensives have come out recently. On Nov 22, PM Abiy Ahmed announced he is joining the war to undertake leadership from the frontlines.
On Nov 26 it was announced that Government forces led by the Prime Minister recaptured Kasagita and had been forwarding to Burka and Bati.
A reverse image search of the picture, attached to the post, shows that the image was previously posted by a Facebook page named Tigray Press on Aug 5.
Due to its inaccuracy with the message it intended to convey in the claim, HaqCheck rated it as FALSE.
Last week there was relatively less disinformation than the preceding weeks. New military skirmishes have been reported. But unlike the past, where there were many false claims when the armed conflict escalated, there have been limited false and controversial claims.
Here is the summary of false and misleading claims and information disorders that surfaced on social media platforms last week.
Lalibela controlled by government forces
The Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed (Ph.D.) announced on Monday, Nov 22, 2021, that he would go to the battlefronts to directly lead the war from there. Thereafter, claims regarding government forces controlling the town of Lalibela have come. The town was reported to have fallen under the control of Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) forces since Aug 5, 2021.
However, in the new waves of engagements, claims appeared alleging Amhara regional forces controlled back the town. The claims were supported with an image in a bid to prove it. On Nov 23 and 24, 2021 a series of Facebook posts emerged showing an image that depicts an armed man in the uniform of the Amhara Regional Special Police sitting near the Church of ‘Biete Giyorgis’, one of the prominent churches in the town of Lalibela.
However, the image was false and taken from a previous Facebook post on Apr 29, 2021. The image was previously posted by a Facebook account by the name Wubetu Yigezawu. The Amharic caption of the image reads, “The temples of St. Lalibela are being heavily guarded by the Amhara Special Forces”.
In addition to that, there was no official announcement whether government forces controlled back the town of Lalibela.
Therefore, HaqCheck confirmed the image does not prove that Amhara regional forces recaptured Lalibela, and the claim is debunkedFALSE by HaqCheck.
Controversy over Eleni Gabre Madhin (Ph.D.) and an-affiliated CSO
Last week a video was released by a Canadian author and freelance journalist, Jeff Pearce. The video shows an online video meeting attended by Ambassador Berhane Gebrekirstos who claims he is representative of TPLF abroad, diplomats and ambassadors, scholars, and others.
The two hours and three minutes video was leaked by the journalist. It was a subject of controversy on social media and was reported by many local state-owned media outlets claiming that Eleni Gabre Madhin (Ph.D.) and the others were secretly supporting the TPLF.
Nevertheless, Eleni stated that her participation was in her personal capacity as an Ethiopian yearning for peace, not on behalf of or linked to her office.
A few days before the video was released she stated on her Twitter account that her residence house in Addis Ababa was, disrespectfully, raided by the police.
Later on, she issued a letter and denied that she supports TPLF forces. In the letter, she affirmed that she doesn’t accept an unconstitutional change of government and recognized the current government as legitimately elected. She asserted that she did not endorse or support any of the views that were presented at the meeting.
The virtual meeting was organized by a civil society organization, Peace and Development Center International (PDCI) which is registered in Ethiopia and in the US.
On Nov 26, 2021, the Ethiopian Authority for Civil Society Organizations announced that it revoked the license of the organization for violating the laws of the state of emergency recently declared by the federal government.
Commercial Bank of Ethiopia offering prizes
Another claim that was fact-checked by HaqCheck was a social media scam that issued a supposed opportunity that the Commercial Bank of Ethiopia is offering prizes for those who fill out a questionnaire. The post claimed that the gifts would be presented to potential winners marking the 80th year anniversary of the bank. It has a link that leads to a website requesting to fill out a survey.
The page on the site shows the logo of CBE and has the image of CBE bank Djibouti branch as its cover. The amount of the prize offered after filling out the survey, as it is stated on the sites, is 10 thousand Br. After filling out the questionnaire, it invites users to click on boxes to try to win the prize and commends sharing the link to 5 public groups or to 20 people, entering the address, and completing the registration.
HaqCheck looked into the link in the message and confirmed that it is not associated with the official website of the bank. A Whois search, a domain lookup of the link shows that the link was created on Sep. 24, 2021, and registered in China under the domain name of editjazz.top. Whereas, the correct site of CBE is combanketh.et.
HaqCheck also contacted Biniam Zewde, Social Media Manager of CBE to confirm the issue. The manager said, “the links are just random scams. There is no official campaign or plan launched in celebration of the 80th anniversary of the bank and those messages and links are not from our bank.” He also reminded customers to follow up on such announcements from credible sources including the official website, social media pages, and television and radio programs of the bank. The bank has also been warning its customers to be safe from such scams on its platforms.
Hence, the message circulating on social media platforms and messaging apps claiming that CBE is awarding a prize by filling out a questionnaire is false and is rated as SCAM.
Rebels close to 30 km to Addis Ababa
The French state-owned international media outlet, France 24 published an article with the title “UN to evacuate families from Ethiopia as rebels claim advance on the capital” on Nov 26, 2021.
The article explains that family members of international staff in Ethiopia were ordered to immediately evacuate as TPLF forces claim to be edging closer to the capital Addis Ababa.
It also added, “some TPLF fighters were believed to have reached Debre Sina, roughly 30 kilometers closer to Addis Ababa, diplomats briefed on the security situation said.” It misleadingly claimed that the town of Debre Sina is 30 kilometers from Addis Ababa.
HaqCheck, therefore, investigated the claims and confirmed that it was MISLEADING, as Debre Sina is 190 km far from the capital. We checked out the distance between the town which is located in the North Shoa zone, Amhara Regional State, and the capital on Google Maps. The town is exactly 190 kilometers far from the Addis Ababa Municipality Mayor Office as shown on google maps.
US pushes three ships near the coast of Ethiopia
An Egyptian daily newspaper called Al-Masry Al-Youm published a news report on Nov 23, saying, “Washington pushes three ships near the coast of Ethiopia to help its citizens in case the security situation deteriorates”
A phrase reads in the news, “three ships near the coast of Ethiopia. Nevertheless, Ethiopia is known to be a landlocked country bordered by Djibouti, Eritrea, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, and Somaliland (Somalia) and has no coast. This is the first factual error found in the news at the beginning.
Moreover, HaqCheck interrogated the images used in support of the claim.
A Tineye search of the first image shows that the image was first taken on June 18, 2006, showing US ‘Exercise Valiant Shield 2006’ around the Pacific ocean. The image can be found here.
A Tineye search of the second image shows Japan’s Maritime Self-Defense Force. The image was taken on Oct 18 2015 by a Reuters photographer. The image can be found here.
HaqCheck rated the factual error found in the news and the inaccurate images used to support the claim, as FALSE.
Recommendations
HaqCheck recommends news outlets be responsible and accurate when they report about the ongoing armed conflict. They should maintain accuracy during reporting and must depend on verified firsthand information. Since recently international media have been engaged in releasing controversial reports and sometimes misleading ones.
The government and concerned authorities should also provide the public with accurate and up-to-date information regarding ongoing issues to prevent information disorder.
We also urge social media influencers and activists to refrain from reporting misleading and false content. They should not publish unverified information that can result in harm on the ground.
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HaqCheck is a local multilingual fact-checking project based in Ethiopia, formed inside Addis Zeybe’s newsroom, now Inform Africa’s Counter Disinformation Project – a board-led Civil Society Organization (CSO) – dedicated to verifying media contents from social to the mainstream. HaqCheck works in collaboration with media outlets to monitor media contents in English and four local languages (Amharic, Afaan Oromo, Tigrigna, and Somali).
This report is produced with the support of UNESCO under the #CoronavirusFacts: Addressing the ‘Disinfodemic’ on COVID-19 in conflict-prone Environments that the UNESCO Addis Ababa Office is implementing in Ethiopia with financial support from the European Union (EU). The designations employed and the presentation of material throughout this publication do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of UNESCO or the EU concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city, or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. The ideas and opinions expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of UNESCO or The European Union and do not commit these organizations in any way.
An Egyptian daily newspaper called Al-Masry Al-Youm published a news report on Nov 23, saying, “Washington pushes three ships near the coast of Ethiopia to help its citizens in case the security situation deteriorates”
The news was also shared on the official Twitter account of the newspaper, with more than 5.2 million followers. There are two different photos attached with the article on the website and the tweet.
HaqCheck looked into the pictures used to support the report and rated it as FALSE.
Tigray People Liberation Front (TPLF) forces and the Federal Government of Ethiopia have been in an active war in northern Ethiopia Since November 2020. The war escalated to a more tensioned level recently when the TPLF forces controlled some major cities in the Amhara Regional State. With the intensification of the conflict, a number of embassies including the US embassy in Addis Ababa urged their citizens in Ethiopia to leave the country due to security concerns.
Major General William Zana, commander of a US joint task force of the Horn of Africa told BBC on Nov 12, that the US force is ready to respond to Ethiopia’s crisis to assist evacuation, if necessary.
On the other hand, an article published by CNN states, referring to a military official, that the US military is positioned in Djibouti to provide assistance to the US Embassy in Ethiopia if the situation worsens. It also adds that “three amphibious warships currently in the Middle East — the USS Essex, the USS Portland, and the USS Pearl Harbor — have been on standby and could be used for potential civilian evacuation efforts.”
The news was shared in this context.
A phrase reads in the news, “three ships near the coast of Ethiopia. Nevertheless, Ethiopia is known to be a landlocked country bordered by Djibouti, Eritrea, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, and Somaliland (Somalia) and has no coast. This is the first factual error found in the news at the beginning.
Moreover, HaqCheck interrogated the images used in support of the claim.
A Tineye search of the first image shows that the image was first taken on June 18, 2006, showing US ‘Exercise Valiant Shield 2006’ around the Pacific ocean. The image can be found here.
A Tineye search of the second image shows Japan’s Maritime Self-Defense Force. The image was taken on Oct 18 2015 by a Reuters photographer. The image can be found here.
HaqCheck rated the factual error found in the news and the inaccurate images used to support the claim, as FALSE.
France 24 published a news report on its official website entitled, “UN to evacuate families from Ethiopia as rebels claim advance on the capital.” The story recounts the report that the “UN has ordered the immediate evacuation of family members of international staff in Ethiopia, as Tigrayan rebels claim to be edging closer to the capital Addis Ababa.”
In the middle of the story reads a statement, “Some TPLF fighters were believed to have reached Debre Sina, roughly 30 kilometers closer to Addis Ababa, diplomats briefed on the security situation said.” The town Debre Sina, claimed to be the current whereabouts of the rebels, is used as a reference to show the closeness of the rebels to the capital. And it is stated in the report that Debre Sina is 30 km from Addis to imply how near the rebels are and support the claim.
France 24 has 14.7% site traffic in the United States, 5.8% in France, and 4.3% in Egypt during the past 30 days according to Alexa. Alexa ranked it 2,262nd in global internet engagement in a 90-day trend.
The website news report was shared on differentsocial media by a notable number of users. However, the data used to support the narrative is rated as MISLEADING due to its inexact use of distance.
The Tigray People Liberation Front (TPLF) forces and the Federal Government of Ethiopia have been in an active war in northern Ethiopia Since November 2020. The war escalated to a more tensioned level recently when the TPLF forces controlled some major cities in the Amhara Regional State. With the intensification of the conflict, a number of embassies based in Addis Ababa urged their citizens in Ethiopia to leave the country due to security concerns.
Amid such a situation PM Abiy Ahmed, announced to lead the army from the front lines on Nov 22.
HaqCheck checked out the distance between the mentioned town and the capital on Google Maps. Debre Sina is located in the North Shoa zone, Amhara Regional State, 189 km from Addis Ababa, not 30 km away from the capital.
HaqCheck assessed the report and confirmed that the news report doesn’t prove that the rebels are in a 30 km range from the capital and rendered the claim MISLEADING due to its use of a mistaken reference.
There are different kinds of scams that usually circulate on social media platforms and messaging apps. HaqCheck came across a similar message that was circulating in the name of the Commercial Bank of Ethiopia. The message which reads, “Commercial Bank of Ethiopia’s 80th anniversary celebration” has a link that leads to a website requesting to fill out a survey.
The page on the site shows the logo of CBE and has the image of CBE bank Djibouti branch as its cover. The amount of the prize offered after filling out the survey, as it is stated on the sites, is 10 thousand birrs. After filling out the questionnaire, it invites you to click on boxes to try to win the prize. It then orders you to share the link to 5 public groups or to 20 people, enter your address, and complete the registration.
Commercial Bank of Ethiopia (CBE) is a state-owned bank whose history dates back to its establishment as the State Bank of Ethiopia in 1942. CBE was legally established as a share company in 1963. In 1974, CBE merged with the privately-owned Addis Ababa Bank. Since then, it has been playing significant roles in the development of the country. The bank had different prizes offered to its customers on different occasions especially for promoting saving.
HaqCheck looked into the link in the message and confirmed that it is not associated with the official website of the bank. A Whois search, a domain lookup of the link shows that the link was created on Sep. 24, 2021, and registered in China under the domain name of editjazz.top. Whereas, the correct site of CBE is combanketh.et.
What makes the issue more skeptical is that the names of the people who claim to win the prize are commenting on the post using Western names, and the bank is referred to as an international bank at the bottom of the page.
HaqCheck also contacted Biniam Zewde, Social Media Manager of CBE to confirm the issue. The manager said, “the links are just random scams. There is no official campaign or plan launched in celebration of the 80th anniversary of the bank and those messages and links are not from our bank.” He also reminded customers to follow up on such announcements from credible sources including the official website, social media pages, and television and radio programs of the bank. The bank has also been warning its customers to be safe from such scams on its platforms
Hence, the message circulating on social media platforms and messaging apps claiming that CBE is awarding a prize by filling out a questionnaire is false and it is rated as SCAM.
Various claims circulating since Nov. 23 about the recapturing of Lalibela by Government forces, grabbed our attention. Some of the claims are supported with a pictureof a soldier in the uniform of the Amhara Special Force sitting beside one of the famous Lalibela churches ‘Biete Giyorgis’.
However, HaqCheck has looked into the image and rated it as FALSE.
Tigray People Liberation Front (TPLF) forces and the Federal Government of Ethiopia have been in an active war in northern Ethiopia since November 2020. At the end of June 2021, the Federal Government declared a sudden unilateral ceasefire and pulled out its troops from Tigray after a request from the Provisional Government of the region.
Thereafter, the TPLF forces had been advancing southward towards territories in the Amhara and the Afar Regional States. On August 5, 2021, TPLF forces took control of the town of Lalibela in the North Wollo zone of the Amhara regional state.
Reports of fresh military offensives and counter-offensives have come out recently. On Nov 22, prime minister Abiy Ahmed announced he is joining the war saying, “From now on, I will march on the battlefield from tomorrow onwards to lead the defense.”
Following the Prime Minister’s statement of leading the war directly from the battlefronts, different posts and claims of victory started to proliferate on social media. And this post is published in this context.
However, while monitoring the claims HaqCheck was able to find out that the image used in the recent claims is actually old. The image was previously posted by a Facebook account by the name Wubetu Yigezawu on Apr. 29. The Amharic caption of the image reads, “The temples of St. Lalibela are being heavily guarded by the Amhara Special Forces”
HaqCheck also noticed that there has not been an official announcement regarding control of the holy city from both sides until this article was published. We will continue our follow-up effort to confirm from officials and will update the public when there is any. However, despite the rumors on social media that Government forces have recaptured the town of Lalibela, HaqCheck confirmed that the image doesn’t support the claim and rated it as FALSE.
All around the world vaccine hesitancy is a concern for authorities. People are refusing to be vaccinated for different reasons. Health workers who refuse to be vaccinated are losing jobs in countries where vaccination for frontline workers is mandatory.
Until Nov 13 Ethiopia has received over 12 million doses of AstraZeneca, Sinopharm, Johnson & Johnson, and Pfizer. Around 3.5 million Ethiopians have received at least one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine and close to 2.6 million people have been fully vaccinated. This accounts for less than three percent of the population. At the time more than 60 % of these have yet to be used.
Some of the concerns are exacerbated by o certain misleading facts while the others are baseless mis/disinformation. Concern about the side effects and the safety of the vaccines is the main reason for vaccine hesitancy. Moreover, conspiracy theories claiming the vaccine to be a tool for world control, a microchip and a poison that will kill after a few years are circulating around social media platforms. This is resulting in an unexpected wave of anti-vax groups.
According to a recent report by Addis Zeybe, from those who had access to the vaccine at the time 41.7% are not vaccinated. The finding shows, some of the main reasons for the hesitancy are fear of possible side effects of the vaccine, concern about the safety of the vaccine, dis/misinformation, Religious beliefs, among others.
To encourage and increase the number of vaccinated people the Ethiopian Ministry of Health is urging all adults, aged over 18 to get easy access to the vaccine from any public health institutes. The Addis Ababa health bureau has also launched a campaign to vaccinate the city residents older than 12, from Nov 15 – 24.
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HaqCheck is a local multilingual fact-checking project based in Ethiopia, formed inside Addis Zeybe’s newsroom, now Inform Africa’s Counter Disinformation Project – a board-led Civil Society Organization (CSO) – dedicated to verifying media contents from social to the mainstream. HaqCheck works in collaboration with media outlets to monitor media contents in English and four local languages (Amharic, Afaan Oromo, Tigrigna, and Somali).
This report is produced with the support of UNESCO under the #CoronavirusFacts: Addressing the ‘Disinfodemic’ on COVID-19 in conflict-prone Environments that the UNESCO Addis Ababa Office is implementing in Ethiopia with financial support from the European Union (EU). The designations employed and the presentation of material throughout this publication do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of UNESCO or the EU concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city, or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. The ideas and opinions expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of UNESCO or The European Union and do not commit these organizations in any way.
Several months after the breakout of the Covid-19 pandemic, vaccines arrived and were distributed for public use. The coming of these vaccines was a great deal of relief to global health.
The pandemic has claimed the lives of millions of people and ruined the world economy. The whole world has been in a rarely occurred lockdown. So far the plague has killed more than five million people worldwide while over 256 million people have contracted the virus
The virus was reported in Ethiopia on Mar 13, 2020, for the first time. Since then, the pandemic has turned the socio-economic and health systems upside down.
So far, more than 369,867 coronavirus cases and 6,662 deaths have been registered in the country.
Almost all countries on the face of the earth have been fiercely hit by waves of rapid transmission of the virus. Recent reports indicate that many countries are currently being victimized by the fourth wave of the pandemic. There are states that imposed new restrictive measures and even lockdowns fearing a new wave of transmission. The virus still poses a serious danger to the global healthcare system.
The first-ever Covid-19 vaccine rollout by Pfizer was approved in the UK on Dec 2, 2020, less than a year after the outbreak was officially reported in Wuhan, China, and was good news to the world. Since then various Covid-19 vaccines have been authorized by regulatory agencies to be rolled out for use. Pfizer, Moderna, AstraZeneca, Sinopharm, Sputnik are among the widely known and utilized vaccines.
Many donors are providing the country with Covid-19 vaccines. The vaccination program was launched on March 23, 2021. At first, there were limited amounts of vaccine doses. Frontline health workers, the elderly, and vulnerable people were given priority to be injected. But now, the government has announced that any person above the age of 18 can get vaccinated for free at public health centers.
However, there has been hesitancy within different sections of society to get vaccinated. These hesitancies are based on various reasons such as lack of sufficient knowledge about the vaccines or unidentified skeptical tendencies.
Many governmental and intergovernmental and research institutions have confirmed the safety of the Covid-19 vaccines. The vaccines are passed through clinical trials and given green lights by such credible organizations to be rolled out for public use.
The US Center for Disease Control (CDC) has confirmed that currently approved or authorized COVID-19 vaccines are safe and effective and reduce the risk of severe illness.
Even vaccines are being developed and authorized to be given to children and teens, according to CDC.
The American Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has for example authorized the usage of Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen vaccines. The US Center for Disease Control (CDC) recommends that people who had a severe allergic reaction after a previous dose or already diagnosed allergy to the vaccines not get vaccinated. It also urges that people should get the second shot within three to four weeks intervals after the first shot.
The vaccines should be given within a two- to 12-week interval depending on the type of the vaccine.
All the ingredients in the vaccines are safe and found in many foods such as fats, sugar, and salts. The vaccines help the body produce an immune response.
A backdrop to the vaccine hesitancy and unfounded allegations that it may have microchips, Covid-19 vaccines don’t contain any manufactured products like microelectronics, electrodes, carbon nanotubes, or other nanostructures, or nanowire semiconductors, CDC confirmed.
The CDC has stated that the vaccines may have some side effects such as pain, redness, and swelling in the arm, tiredness, headache, muscle pain, chills, fever, and nausea throughout the rest of the body.
However, these side effects that occur within a day or two of getting the vaccine are normal signs and go away within a few days.
Ethiopia has so far administered over five million doses and 3.8 people have got vaccinated. However, this number is very small when it comes to the total population of the country. More is left to be done regarding vaccination programs.
Currently, there are 20 Covid-19 vaccines that are approved by at least one national regulatory agency for public use. The World Health Organization has also recognized the authorization of these vaccines. The arrival of Covid-19 vaccines has a great deal role in reducing the spread, severity, and death caused by the virus.
According to a recent report by the US CDC, unvaccinated people are five times more likely to be infected, ten times more likely to be hospitalized, and 11 times more likely to die.
HaqCheck has learned that many credible governmental and intergovernmental organizations and agencies have confirmed that the vaccines that are authorized are safe and effective. HaqCheck encourages the public not to give attention to unfounded allegations that promote vaccine hesitancy and we promote people to get vaccinated as soon as possible. Finally, we also encourage people to apply personal preventive measures along with the vaccination.
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HaqCheck is a local multilingual fact-checking project based in Ethiopia, formed inside Addis Zeybe’s newsroom, now Inform Africa’s Counter Disinformation Project – a board-led Civil Society Organization (CSO) – dedicated to verifying media contents from social to the mainstream. HaqCheck works in collaboration with media outlets to monitor media contents in English and four local languages (Amharic, Afaan Oromo, Tigrigna, and Somali).
This report is produced with the support of UNESCO under the #CoronavirusFacts: Addressing the ‘Disinfodemic’ on COVID-19 in conflict-prone Environments that the UNESCO Addis Ababa Office is implementing in Ethiopia with financial support from the European Union (EU). The designations employed and the presentation of material throughout this publication do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of UNESCO or the EU concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city, or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. The ideas and opinions expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of UNESCO or The European Union and do not commit these organizations in any way.
