Oumar Youm, former Minister of Infrastructure, Land Transportation and Disengagement, has not agreed to take his dose of Covid-19 vaccine. A choice that he justifies by the principle of social equity because if only the authorities vaccinate themselves first, the hierarchy of society would be even more visible. The current mayor of Thiadiaye thus invokes his moral and social conscience.
“I declined the very courteous offer from the District Medical Officer (…). It’s not out of mistrust or out of fear of vaccine, because I’ve been vaccinating all my life. Parts of my body bear the stigma. But I simply think that the vaccine must not be an ideological or diplomatic weapon, let alone an instrument that deepens the rift between citizens, the rich and the poor, the elected and the voters, the rulers and the governed.”, said Oumar Youm.
According to Le Quotidien, he invokes the conscience clause. How can I look at my municipal councillor tomorrow in the whites of my eyes, my conscience appeased, my wife, my children, the municipal officials, the people who elected me?” The former minister asks.
‘That’s why, using the conscience clause, I prefer to wait for the vaccine for everyone. And in the name of social equity,’ the former chief of staff of the head of state said.
On 18 February 2021, Senegal received 200,000 doses of the Chinese Sinopharm vaccine. The reluctance of the Senegalese to go and get vaccinated, has pushed the head of state Macky Sall threatened to offer doses to other African countries if the number of vaccinated does not increase. Since the first reported case on 2 March 2020, Senegal has recorded 34,031 positive cases, including 857 deaths.
