Tinashe Sambiri|The COVID-19 vaccination programme should be conducted in a transparent process- without hiding key information, the MDC Alliance has said.
According to a statement released by MDC Alliance Secretary for Health, Dr Henry Madzorera, citizens are deeply sceptical of the process because government is not disclosing key information…
See full statement below:
14 April 2021
10th Edition
A Chinese official is said to have announced that the Sinopharm vaccine has lower efficacy than originally suggested in media reports.
This will not be the first time a vaccine has been shown to have low efficacy. We watched the Republic of South Africa switching from Astra Zeneca vaccine to Johnson and Johnson on the basis of low efficacy. We also saw most of Europe halting, albeit temporarily, the use of the Astra Zeneca vaccine on the basis of perceived adverse events following immunization. This is sound pharmaco-vigilance from governments that have nothing to hide from citizens.
Initial reports said Sinopharm vaccine had an efficacy of roughly 79-86%. Now the owners of the vaccine say efficacy is lower than that. What should Zimbabwe do?
This is time to act on available home brewed data. We have already vaccinated over 205 275 people since 18th February.
What preliminary results do we have on safety and efficacy? The government needs to make an urgent decision based on data as to whether to continue using the two Chinese vaccines or to switch to something else. We now know that 95% of our covid19 is the South African variant.
Could efficacy here be even lower than in China? Only live data collected here can inform us correctly for decision and action.
Starting to vaccinate the population with whatever vaccine available was a good thing. Continuing to use a vaccine with proven low efficacy would be a disaster and a total waste of tax payer’s money. But we must measure the efficacy in our own population. We note curiously that the Sinopharm/Sinovac vaccines are still not on the WHO list of approved vaccines. Decision has once again been postponed to end of April.
Here is the most important advice to government: Travel this journey with the people. Alone you may think you’re going fast, but indeed together we will go far. Transparency in all matters pertaining to procurement decisions, safety, & efficacy of the vaccines has no substitute if we are to have a successful covid19 prevention program. All covid19 vaccines are on trial.
The people must report their experiences and the population must be kept informed. We have already requested weekly reports on adverse events following immunization in the SitRep.That way we can help the Chinese in their vaccine development process.
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Dr Henry Madzorera
Secretary for Health and Child Welfare
MDC Alliance
