By A Correspondent- A Bulawayo-based consultant paediatrician Dr Wedu Ndebele has urged Zimbabweans to get vaccinated as this will reduce the spread of the coronavirus.

Dr Ndebele said that in the event that one is vaccinated, the infection would be much milder if they contract the virus.

He said:

For us to get what we call herd immunity there should be enough people vaccinated to curtail or stop the transmission.

Usually for you to do that you need to vaccinate about two-thirds of the population and that is why we are talking of between 60 to 70 per cent of the population.

As you can see now all the cases that we are getting are from the communities, which means that transmissions are from person to person.

If enough people are vaccinated, it means that even if one person has Covid-19 and gets into contact with a vaccinated person that person won’t be infected.

We encourage people to get vaccinated especially those that are at high risk.

Another health expert, Dr Rita Dlodlo also spoke in support of vaccination saying it will reduce the number of COVID-19 related deaths.

She also said that in Zimbabwe millions of children’s lives have been saved under the national immunisation programmes.

On Monday Zimbabwe took delivery of 200 000 Sinopharm vaccine doses donated by the People’s Republic of China.

It has however emerged that people with chronic conditions such as HIV/AIDS, high blood pressure among others, and those under the age of 18 should not receive the jab.