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Andile Tshuma, Chronicle Reporter
GOVERNMENT has successfully concluded the Emergency Typhoid vaccination programme which targeted the disease outbreak hotspots in the country.
The vaccination programme started on February 26 and was completed on March 4 and covered nine suburbs in Harare.
More than 300 000 people between the ages of six months and 45 years were vaccinated during the exercise.
The Director of Epidemiology and Disease Control in the Ministry of Health and Child Care, Dr Portia Manangazira, said 86 percent of the target population was vaccinated.
She commended members of the public for co-operation during the programme.
“Our target was 342 000 persons and we achieved 86 percent coverage overall. The most efficient age group was 5-16 years, which are the school going age group and we achieved 97 percent of those. In the six months to four years, we achieved about 62 percent coverage during our exercise.”
“We left some vaccinations at local health centres so that the few people who may have missed out are able to present themselves at their convenience at various centres at the target suburbs,” said Dr Manangazira.
She said it was not something to be proud of that the country is the first ever to vaccinate for typhoid on the continent, although she stressed that it was a good thing that the country had demonstrated high levels of efficiency and preparedness in health emergencies.
“It’s not something to be proud of, being the first country to embark on a typhoid vaccination, however in terms of effective intervention, we are very happy as we have shown that our ministry is capable of responding rapidly and we are very happy and we appreciate Government, the World Health Organisation and other organisations that provided technical support for us to build a case for vaccination,” Dr Manangazira said.
The vaccination programme will also prevent antibiotic resistance as there were reports of considerable drug resistance during the intensity of the outbreak.
Dr Manangazira said the vaccination programme was important to prevent the epidemic spreading to other parts of the country. — @andile_tshuma
Bongani Ndlovu
Online Reporter