By A Correspondent- The MDC Alliance has called on government to intensify awareness campaigns as a strategy of demystifying conspiracy theories surrounding the low uptake of Covid-19 vaccination in the country.
The party’s National Secretary for Health and Child Care Dr Henry Madzorera who is a former health minister urged president Emmerson Mnangagwa’s administration to invest time and money and capacitate health professionals to educate the populace on why government chose the sinopharm vaccine, Russia’s Sputnik V and India’s Covaxin detailing the scientific reasons for this.
He said such a move would demystify myths surrounding the jabs and increase its uptake.
Said Madzorera:
“Government should double its efforts in vaccinating the population. This means spending time and money on educating health workers and the entire population on why the government chose sinopharm vaccine, how it has performed elsewhere, and giving clinical details of the scientific trial phases that have been done already.
Dealing with mistrust and conspiracy theories should preoccupy government at this point. Empty reassurances and threats won’t help our situation.
The people want scientific information. That’s not the job of politicians. Government should resource the public health and scientific communities to do that.”
Zimbabwe received its first 200,000 coronavirus vaccines, a donation by the Chinese government joining Egypt and Equatorial Guineas as the first few African countries to get the vaccine.
The country’s Vice-President Constantino Chiwenga, who doubles as the country’s health minister, was the first to receive the jab, at Harare’s Wilkins Hospital a few days later in a development where government aimed to vaccinate around 60,000 healthcare and other frontline workers in the first round of vaccinations.
Zimbabwe reported an estimated 36,665 COVID-19 cases and 1,512 deaths according to statistics from the health ministry.
VP Chiwenga told legislators last Tuesday that Zimbabwe’s free vaccination programme, was targeting at least 10 million people, roughly 60% of the population.
However, Zimbabwean doctors expressed concern over the worrisome statistics of those taking the jab where fewer than 36,000 people had received shots in the first three weeks of Zimbabwe’s campaign to vaccinate front line workers like doctors, nurses and journalists among others.
In its report titled “Factors Influencing Vaccine Hesitancy and Immunization Coverage in Zimbabwe: A Rapid Assessment, Version 1: DECEMBER 2016” the UNICEF recommended that there is need to design and implement a national social and behavior change communication (SBCC) or communication for development (C4D) strategy on immunization.
The organisation further emphasised the importance of “engagement and dialogue to address vaccine hesitancy and refusal.”
The World Health Organisation (WHO) is on record revealing that, like any vaccine, COVID-19 vaccines can cause mild side effects, such as a low-grade fever or pain or redness at the injection site.
“Most reactions to vaccines are mild and go away within a few days on their own. More serious or long-lasting side effects to vaccines are possible but extremely rare. Vaccines are continually monitored to detect rare adverse events.
Reported side effects to COVID-19 vaccines have mostly been mild to moderate and short-lasting. They include: fever, fatigue, headache, muscle pain, chills, diarrhoea, and pain at the injection site. The chances of any of these side effects following vaccination differ according to the specific COVID-19 vaccine,” added the WHO.
See full text of the MDC Alliance statement below:
9th Edition
21 March 2021
Staring the third wave in the eye
Since the lifting of the last lockdown, we have already seen a modest increase in the number of daily infections recorded. We need to stay vigilant as the country opens up. Covid-19 safe practices ought to be applied consistently at all levels of our lives as Zimbabwean citizens, be it at the work places, in public transit, at churches, at school, or at funerals.
Wherever we interact with others outside of our household, it is critical that Covid-19 safe practices be instituted. Covid-19 can still run rampant as long as herd immunity hasn’t been achieved in our country.
By estimates, at least 60% of the Zimbabwean population has to be vaccinated and immune, to attain herd immunity, a state in which the virus no longer has room to keep spreading in our population. Until we reach that place when it will be difficult for the virus to spread like wildfire, we ought to do all we can to keep ourselves, our families, & friends, our neighbors & workmates, and all fellow Zimbabweans safe.
Other more well to do countries are already burning under the load of a third wave, and we must be warned. Countries like Germany & Italy are already seeing worrisome spikes in cases.
There are many ominous pointers to a possible third wave in Zimbabwe. With the Easter holidays coming, we get a chilling sense of déjà vu. Winter is also fast approaching, and that is the time when respiratory illnesses like the flu, Covid-19, etc hit us the most.
A third wave would be catastrophic. It may be more vicious in transmissibility with all the possible mutations that can happen, and the chances of a more aggressive and deadlier variant coming up always exists. The good news is that a third wave is completely preventable, if we as a people exercise the discipline necessary to prevent it for at least another year, while we ensure that our entire population gets vaccinated.
Lets focus on the positive aspects. What has worked for us in the past?
The lockdowns , if not politicised, work well to interrupt transmission. We don’t mean to imply that we should have more lockdowns, because these have their own nasty economic and social consequences, which as a nation we did not manage well and we can ill afford. We should work at preventing the necessity of any further lockdowns.
General preventive measures worked well when they were followed. These include hand washing, use of sanitisers, social distancing, avoiding super spreader events like funerals and parties, limiting unnecessary travel, masking up, and testing and isolation of the infected.
I must confess testing and contact tracing were a major challenge, but we still have opportunity to rise up and utilize that tool because the pandemic is still far from over. Free testing is a necessity. It’s a cheaper option than another lockdown.
How then can we avoid a third wave?
Government should double its efforts in vaccinating the population. This means spending time and money on educating health workers and the entire population on why the government chose sinopharm vaccine, how it has performed elsewhere, and giving clinical details of the scientific trial phases that have been done already.
Dealing with mistrust and conspiracy theories should preoccupy government at this point. Empty reassurances and threats won’t help our situation. The people want scientific information. That’s not the job of politicians. Government should resource the public health and scientific communities to do that.
The citizens demand more transparency on vaccine procurement by the government. That will instill more confidence in the people.
As MDC Alliance we urge all Zimbabweans to follow all the generally laid down rules of infection prevention so that we avoid any further lockdowns. This brief note serves to encourage every single one of us to take matters into our own hands to prevent a third wave from coming. It is completely doable.
Dr Henry Madzorera
National Secretary for Health and Child Welfare