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Credits: Voice of America

HARARE — Zimbabwe’s government says the country is very prepared to handle the new COVID-19 variant – omicron – first reported in neighboring South Africa. The World Health Organization says a fourth wave of the pandemic is most likely to hit Africa.

Zimbabwe’s Vice President Constantino Chiwenga – who doubles as the country’s health minister – has asked the nation not to be concerned about omicron.

“The country should not panic because we are very prepared. The ramping up of our vaccination program in the past month has seen marked increase in the vaccination uptake. That is the prevention which we are going to have for our people if any other variant comes. At least when your body is protected it is much better than when you are found naked,” said the vice president.

Zimbabwe has fully inoculated about 2.8 million people since February, when it began its vaccination program to contain the COVID-19 pandemic. The government has a target of vaccinating at least 10 million Zimbabweans — or 60% of the population — by the end of the year, a figure which might be difficult to reach given the scarcity of resources and short time left.

Itai Rusike, head of the nonprofit Community Working Group on Health, said Zimbabweans should panic about the new variant – initially named B.1.1.529 – since the country shares porous borders with South Africa and Botswana.

“And this new variant is coming at a time when the festive season is upon us. A whole lot of Zimbabweans, they use undesignated entry points. That poses a serious health challenge as they would not be properly screened and monitored as they come back to the country. What we want to encourage the government of Zimbabwe, is for them to strengthen their surveillance and monitoring system especially the land borders and make sure that the screening and monitoring at the entry points is also strengthened,” said Rusike.

Meanwhile, Humphrey Karamagi, a medical officer at the World Health Organization Regional Office for Africa, said on the WHO Twitter account that a fourth wave of COVID-19 is likely to hit the continent.

“A fourth wave in Africa is almost a certainty, as long as we have these factors in play, which is new variants coming up and the fact that people can be reinfected. And also, if we are getting new population who may not have been exposed. We would then have subsequent waves. Vaccination helps a lot in terms of reducing the severity of the disease [and] also reducing the risk of infection. The vaccine is not a magic bullet. So the vaccine is to work together with the public health measures to reduce the potential and risks of subsequent waves,” said Karamagi.

The WHO says COVID-19 has infected about 6.1 million people in Africa and claimed 152,113 lives. The world health body also says more than 227 million vaccine doses have been administered in Africa.

Credits: Voice of America

HARARE — President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s government has announced it is starting to vaccinate Zimbabwe’s teenagers over the age of 16 against COVID-19, which has claimed nearly 5,000 lives and infected 13,000 in the country. Public health experts welcome the move.

Zimbabwe’s acting Health and Child Care Minister Amon Murwira told journalists late Monday that the country had so far managed to vaccinate 38% of the population.

He then announced the recommendation regarding those over the age of 16.

“Based on the available scientific data in line with the Medicines Control Authority of Zimbabwe guide, the specialist pediatricians have recommended a vaccination of the 16 to 17 years age group with the Sinovac COVID19 vaccine,” said Murwira.

“The protocol of the younger age groups is still under consideration. The ministry wishes to advise the public that COVID19 vaccination of the 16 to 17 years age groups has been approved. The government of Zimbabwe through the Ministry of Health and Childcare is determined that Zimbabwe achieves herd immunity by end December 2021,” he added.

Dr. Norman Matara, the head of Zimbabwe Association for Doctors for Human Rights, is hopeful the move would increase the number of people getting vaccinated and will push the country further to achieving head immunity.

“This is a welcome move, but we just hope that the vaccine will continue to be voluntary and that these teenagers will not be mandated to get vaccines in schools and colleges. But people should just continue to voluntarily get the vaccines,” he said.

Itai Rusike, head of nonprofit Community Working Group on Health in Zimbabwe, commended the government for the announcement as it helps the country reach its target of vaccinating at least 10 million Zimbabweans — or 60% of the population — by the end of the year.

“This is important in order to prevent the teenagers from COVID-19 infections, hospitalizations and even death, especially from the looming threat of the new delta variant. It is also important that the school health coordinators are equipped with the necessary COVID-19 vaccine literacy so that they can then assist in educating the students, the teachers and support staff on the importance of getting vaccinated. It is also important that the community leaders should play a critical role in being our COVID-19 champions and ambassadors so that they can encourage the parents and the children within their communities to embrace the vaccines,” said Rusike.

Zimbabwe has fully inoculated just above 2.6 million people since February when it began its vaccination program to contain the COVID-19 pandemic.

Credits: Voice of America

Zimbabwe’s government on Monday is reintroducing a lockdown as a way to contain rising coronavirus cases in the southern African nation.

Announcing the reintroduction of the lockdown Saturday night on national television, Vice President Constantino Chiwenga said complacency had resulted in a recent spike in cases of the coronavirus responsible for the COVID-19 disease.

“Our vaccination against in COVID-19 is going on very well,” he said. “The country is however experiencing a surge in cases. The last seven days has seen 596 new cases and 26 deaths, as compared to the same period in May last year where we had 132 cases and six deaths.”

Chiwenga, who doubles as Zimbabwe’s health minister, said all gatherings except for funerals would be banned comes Monday. Only 30 people would be allowed at funerals. He did not indicate when the new measures would be reviewed.

Itai Rusike, head of nonprofit Community Working Group on Health in Zimbabwe, commended the government for tightening the lockdown to avoid a “pending third wave disaster.”

“Yes, this may look a bit draconian, but the measures are still necessary if we are to save lives. It is important that the people of Zimbabwe should embrace these measures. It is also important for Zimbabweans that are eligible for vaccination to come forward and willingly get vaccinated if the country is to move forward towards achieving herd immunity of vaccinating at least 60% of the population which translates to about 10 million Zimbabweans,” he said.

Credits: Voice of America

Zimbabwe’s government is asking for help from the country’s corporate sector, citizens and other well-wishers to fund the import of COVID-19 vaccines. The southern African nation is falling behind in the battle with the coronavirus, despite imposing a 12-hour curfew last month as part of a lockdown to deal with the pandemic, which has infected about 35,000 people in Zimbabwe and caused 1,300 deaths, most of them this year alone.

Itai Rusike, executive director of the nonprofit Community Working Group on Health in Zimbabwe said in an interview he was shocked by the extension of the “usual begging bowl” when President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s government has been lately “bragging of a surplus budget.” He said citizens and companies in Zimbabwe are feeling the impact of the slowed economy, so they cannot donate for COVID-19 vaccine imports.

“So, let us use the budget surplus money to purchase the vaccines. We also have the 2% tax on mobile money transactions,” said Rusike. “We also have the health levy. These funds should be earmarked for the vaccine purchases for now. Even the International Monetary Fund said spend the budget surplus money as long as the financing is transparent and closely monitored.”

Zimbabwean Finance and Economic Development Minister Mthuli Ncube refused to comment Saturday on his call for assistance.

Rusike added that the call for an unspecified amount of funds to import vaccines was confusing after Mnangagwa this week said his government had sourced free vaccines – some 200,000 donated by China. In the same speech, broadcast on national television, Mnangagwa said.

“A national vaccine deployment framework has also been finalized,” he added. “The initial objective is to inoculate at least 60% of the population. Government has set aside the requisite financial resources for the purchase of vaccines.”

Rusike said Zimbabwe should not expect much assistance from its usual donors such as the U.S., Britain and the European Union.

“It will be very difficult for the international donors, to come in and support Zimbabwe at this stage,” said Rusike. “Mainly because the very same donors are having the biggest burden of COVID-19. If you look at the U.S, the U.K, these are the hotspots for COVID-19. A lot of more people [than Zimbabwe] have been infected from COVID-19 and a lot of people continue to die from COVID-19 in those respective countries.”

For years now, the country’s health sector has largely depended on assistance of aid organizations such as USAID. The country’s health workers have on several occasions been on strike – including during this coronavirus outbreak – asking for PPE and better salaries.