By A Correspondent| Local doctors have questioned the government’s approach in educating citizens on the importance of the COVID-19 vaccination saying the low numbers being recorded daily were worrying considering that other countries were doing well in having their people inoculated.
Zimbabwe received 200 000 doses of the Sinopharm vaccine from China.
The sinopharm vaccine remains the only option available in the country right now with AstraZeneca and another batch from India and Russia still to arrive in the country.
“[Only] 243 new vaccinations reported yesterday [Tuesday]. That’s an average of 24 people being vaccinated per day per each province,” said Zimbabwe Association of Doctors for Human Rights (ZADHR) treasurer-general Norman Matara.
“35,000 vaccinated in 3 weeks. The uptake is extremely low and worrying. Rwanda has vaccinated 200,000 people in four days. Where are we getting it wrong?”
Zimbabwe rolled out its immunisation programme some three weeks ago after receiving a donation of 200,000 Sinopharm vaccine doses from China.
The government, which aims to vaccinate 10 million people to achieve herd immunity, is awaiting more doses from the Chinese plus an allocation of the AstraZeneca vaccine under the global COVAX scheme.
But Matara worried the sluggish pace of vaccination and the apparent failure by government to galvanize a positive response leaves the country vulnerable to the respiratory disease that has since killed 1,489 Zimbabweans and infected 36,341 others.
“Vaccines are meant to be given to those who have not yet acquired the disease. That we had fewer cases compared to other countries should be a reason for vaccination not against,” Matara reasoned.
“With limited access to vaccine supply, it would be unwise to give the vaccines to low-risk individuals and not vaccinate those at more risk. I think we still need to devise ways to increase uptake amongst the vulnerable.”
A study by the Zimbabwe College of Public Health Physicians (ZCPHP) found that 49 percent of people “don’t trust the government will provide a safe and effective vaccine,” Matara said, shedding light on why most people are holding off.