Chronicle Editor
Mashudu Netsianda, Senior Reporter
Matabeleland region is set to receive Covid-19 vaccines today and tomorrow ahead of phase one vaccination of frontline workers expected to start in the area on Monday.
Government announced that the Covid-19 vaccine rollout starts today with 49 000 health workers and thousands of other high-risk frontline staff set to be vaccinated under the first phase.
This follows the delivery of the first batch of the Sinopharm vaccines from China on Monday. Chinese firm, Sinopharm, says its vaccine is 80 percent effective in preventing Covid-19 infection. The company has gained approval in over a dozen countries and has begun distributing hundreds of millions of Covid-19 doses around the world. Early Phase I and II data suggest the Chinese vaccines are safe.
The immunisation programme, which is for free and voluntary, is targeting 10 million people in three phases to complete the exercise.
Acting Provincial Medical Director for Bulawayo Dr Welcome Mlilo said they were expecting delivery of at least 6 300 doses for the same number of targeted frontline workers in the province.
He said the vaccination will start on Monday.
“Bulawayo, like the rest of other provinces, has already come up with a rollout plan for the Covid-19 vaccination programme. Preparations are at an advanced stage and yesterday (Tuesday), we attended a national training workshop during which most of the major issues were unpacked, which include the training of trainers at provincial level,” he said.
“We are now cascading the training to our staff at districts and clinics in preparation for the exercise, which starts on Monday when our teams will be on the ground. We are taking delivery of the vaccine, PPE, fuel and other consumables.”
Dr Mlilo said they will also conduct further trainings and hold meetings with stakeholders to disseminate information on the vaccination programme.
“Under this first phase targeting frontline workers, we expect to vaccinate over 5 500 people in the public sector and about 500 in the private sector and our number will be about 6 500 in total and that is also the number of vaccines we will receive,” he said.
Bulawayo has been allocated five teams to spearhead the programme.
Matabeleland South Provincial Medical Director Dr Chipo Chikodzore said the immunisation process will also start on Monday across all seven districts.
“We are using the human resources that have always been doing vaccinations within the province. Our district and provincial health executives were part of the teams that underwent the national training. Today we will be rolling out the training to more members in the districts,” she said.
“By Friday we will be receiving our vaccines and as soon as we receive them, we immediately start distribution to district health centres. According to our roll-out plan, we are starting to vaccinate on Monday.”
Dr Chikodzore said each district is using its Expanded Programme on Immunisation (EPI) sites.
“We have started disseminating information to those that will be training in each particular district. In some districts we will have two teams and in others one team, which will be going around doing the vaccinations where our targeted groups are,” she said.
Acting Matabeleland North Provincial Medical Director, Dr Munekayi Padingani said they have set up 158 centres across the province from where vaccination would be conducted.
He said the training of vaccinators was done and they are now ready to roll out the exercise in the province as soon as the doses arrive today.
“We are set to receive the Covid-19 vaccine and the distribution will be done under the supervision of the police. We have 158 health facilities in the province and we are including private and public frontline workers,” he said.
“I am still waiting for our human resources to give me the total number of people targeted under this programme, which begins on Monday.”
Online Reporter