Torit, 16 April, 2021 / 7:57 pm (ACI Africa).
The Bishop emeritus of South Sudan’s Torit Diocese has, in a bid to dispel fears over COVID-19 vaccination exercise, become the first known prominent religious leader in the East-Central African nation to receive the jab.
In an interview with ACI Africa on Thursday, April 15 shortly after receiving the AstraZeneca vaccine, Bishop Paride Taban, 85, said that he was driven by faith to take the vaccine despite the fears that surround it.
Bishop Taban exuded confidence that many, including other religious leaders, would now follow his example and that the “propaganda surrounding the vaccine” in the nine-year-old country would be dispelled.
“I believe that when I get the vaccine, it is something that can be exemplary to others especially to young people. It is also my belief that nothing wrong will happen to me,” the South Sudanese Bishop who resigned in February 2004 at the age of 68 told ACI Africa.