HSB chair first to get Covid-19 jab in Byo

Nqobile Tshili, Chronicle Reporter
HEALTH Services Board chairman Dr Paulinus Sikosana yesterday became the first person to be vaccinated against Covid-19 in Bulawayo as he led frontline workers who are among the first to be inoculated against the virus.

Dr Sikosana took the Covid-19 jab at 11.15AM at United Bulawayo Hospitals’ outpatient department in front of media cameras and Government officials including Bulawayo Provincial Affairs and Devolution Minister Judith Ncube.

A nurse at the hospital explained the vaccination process and the dosage she was about to administer before Dr Sikosana was vaccinated.

After he was vaccinated, he was asked to wait for 30 minutes at a waiting room so he could be monitored for adverse side effects.

Dr Sikosana remarked that he did not feel any pain when the shot was taken.

He was then informed that he should take his second dose on March 27.

In an interview after taking the Covid-19 vaccine jab, Dr Sikosana, a Covid-19 survivor, said vaccination was an important step towards moving to normal life.

He said he did not feel any side effects after taking the vaccine.

“I have confidence in this one and as such I don’t have any issue and any apprehension against it. The nurse was good at it and it was just a small prickle,” said Dr Sikosana, a few minutes after taking the vaccine dosage.

“I actually had Covid-19 infection in July last year. It’s quite a harrowing experience. It’s not a good experience and I wouldn’t wish it even for my enemy. It’s bad especially for us who are above 60 years of age. I was lucky not to have developed any complications. I self-isolated at home, we are lucky because we have an extra bedroom at home so I isolated myself and my wife was brave enough to put on masks and was looking after me and she didn’t get infected.”

He said taking the Covid-19 vaccine does not mean members of the public should stop other preventive measures including wearing face masks, maintaining social distancing and sanitising their hands.

Dr Sikosana said health workers deserve to be prioritised in the Covid-19 vaccination given the nature of their work.

He said their line of work exposes them to the virus almost on a daily basis and so far nearly 4 000 health workers have contracted the virus.

“Frontline workers are at the core of it. They are the ones who meet patients and when they do, they don’t know whether that patient is Covid-19 positive or negative. Even when a person is known to be positive, they have to interface with health workers. So, it’s quite crucial that they receive this protective vaccine so that they can protect themselves and protect their families,” he said.

Dr Sikosana said by last week nearly 4 000 health workers had been infected by Covid-19 and 17 had succumbed to the disease.

“We have about 48 000 health workers and of those nearly 4 000 have been infected which is about 10 to 11 percent and this means they too risk exposing their families, relatives and general members of the public to the pandemic,” he said.

Dr Sikosana said the country’s Covid-19 infections among health workers are almost the same as those recorded globally by the World Health Organisation in terms of the ratio after taking into account the total number of cases in the country.

He said the second wave of Covid-19 also presented a strain on the country’s supply of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE).

“The issue of PPE; Government has been trying as much as possible to provide PPE for the health sector but because of the second wave, the consumption of the PPE has been at a faster rate than we can replenish,” he said.

Dr Sikosana said Government was however, doing its best to ensure the health workers had the required PPE.

UBH acting chief executive officer Dr Narcisius Dzvanga who was the second to have the Covid-19 jab said there is a need for frontline workers to take up the vaccine being rolled out as humans have been vaccinating since time immemorial.

“We had no other prevention other than masks, sanitisation and good hygiene and so forth. We are hoping that like any other vaccine, like measles, polio among others, this will also give protection from easily contracting the Covid-19 disease. I just had my dose about 10 minutes ago, it was painless and I’m feeling as normal as I was before I had the injection. I strongly urge all the frontline workers, particularly under phase one to accept this programme and get their dose so that the Government can move to the second phase with confidence,” said Dr Dzvanga.

He said he can be a point of reference for those who are sceptical about taking the vaccine. — @nqotshili