Liberia: Fake Ebola Vaccine Causes Panic Monrovia, Parents Warned

By Kennedy L. Yangian

Monrovia — Rumors that some people are moving around from one community to another in Monrovia and its environs administering vaccines to children to prevent the deadly Ebola vaccine, caused uneasiness for parents in the Paynesville Community Wednesday.

At the densely populated Red-light Market where the information first started according to eyewitnesses who hinted FrontPageAfrica, the rumor caused shockwaves when it hit the densely populated market center like wild fire. Most of the marketers who received the information were seen rushing back home to tell their children to avoid the vaccine, while some placed calls back home to sound the warning.

In the Pipeline Community, which was another scene of the rumor, an elderly disabled man believed to be in his late fifties, was seen moving from one home to another telling his neighbors to avoid anyone who may come to their doorsteps under the pretense of administering Ebola vaccine to children.

“When the government was about to administer the polio vaccine, everyone was informed through the radio, but why are they making the Ebola vaccine secret? The man only identified as Kerkulah wondered.

According to a FrontPageAfrica investigation conducted in the Paynesville Community following the circulation of the rumor, parents of the various communities have warned their children to avoid taking the Ebola vaccine for fear that it may lead to their early death.

“Whether Ebola is here or not I don’t want any of my children to take this Ebola vaccine. I told my children that while we are away, they should avoid anyone that will come here to administer Ebola vaccine because we are not informed of any Ebola vaccine” one parent Ma Fatu Konneh told FPA. Health authorities are yet to comment on the rumor that continues to scare parents.