Kimberly Kusauka
With barely three weeks before the curtain comes down on the year 2021, government race to achieve the intended herd immunity of vaccinating 60 percent of the total population falls behind schedule as only 39 percent of the population has received the jab.
A total number of 3 896 589 people have been vaccinated against Covid-19 in Zimbabwe since the programme was rolled out which makes it 38.9 percent herd immunity.
Specialists in the field are reported to have had doubts on the target set by government as over ambitious and unrealistic saying the time stipulated was too little.
Vaccination programme began in February 2021 and it was the target of government to have vaccinated 10 million people of the total population of an estimated 16 million.
From the national daily Covid-19 statistics, the number of people getting vaccinated is tremendously going down even though the new Omicron Covid19 variant has hit the country.
There is apparent complacency on the side of ordinary people and government, which is failing to enforce the regulations worse still convening meetings to conduct party business.
Chief Coordinator for the National response to Covid-19 pandemic in the office of the President and Cabinet, Dr Agnes Mahomva said they continue lobbying for people to get vaccinated by acquiring more vaccines and encouraging people to get vaccinated.
“Our job is to continue pushing so that people get vaccinated and making sure that we access more vaccines.
“Our ambitious target remains and whether we get there or not is not a problem, we continue encouraging people to get vaccinated. We acquired more vaccines recently that we expect to receive this Friday (December 10),” said Dr Mahomva.
She went on to dismiss questions to whether they will reach the target by saying that she is not eligible to talk about it but has to wait for the end result.
“Now it is not the right time for us to conclude whether we will reach herd immunity or not for we are still working and hoping that we will make it,” said Dr Mahomva.
Masvingo Provincial Medical Director (PMD) Dr Amadeus Shamhu said they continue to vaccinate people in the province but however they are having low turnouts.
“We want people to get vaccinated and continue vaccinating those who show up for vaccination but they are showing up in few numbers which is delaying us from reaching community herd immunity,” said Dr Shamhu.
Masvingo Covid-19 Taskforce spokesperson Rogers Irimayi said they are increasing awareness campaigns with the support of partners and that people are still getting vaccinated but the numbers have dropped, though there is a slight increase maybe because of the new variant.
“As taskforce we are intensifying awareness campaign programmes, our partners are supporting in terms of resources to ensure we reach out to the generality of our communities.
“People are still getting vaccinated although the numbers had fallen down in the previous months but an upsurge is being experienced maybe because of the Omicron variant,” said Irimayi.
He said they continue encourage people to observe World Health Organisation (WHO) measures against Covid-19 and encourage people to get vaccinated so as to curb the spread of the virus.
“We encourage people to be very cautious and follow the WHO and government Covid-19 guidelines of masking up, hand sanitizing and maintaining social distancing. However, vaccination is the best option in protecting ourselves and our loved ones,” said Irimayi.
Sometime at the end of November, community herd immunity for Masvingo province stood at 34.8 percent which has been subject to change obviously since some people are getting vaccinated.
