happiness Chikwanha
Tendai Gukutikwa Post Reporter
MANICALAND has emerged as the province with the largest population that has been vaccinated against Covid-19.
Statistics released by the Ministry of Health and Child Care on Tuesday reveal that as of February 14, 75 percent of Manicaland’s population had received the first dose of the vaccination.
These are 1 019 028 people aged 12 and above.
In second and third position are Matabeleland North and Matabeleland South which have 73.1 percent and 71 percent of their population vaccinated with the first dose respectively.
This translates to 443 287 and 294 837 people respectively.
The province with the least percentage of its population vaccinated with the first dose is Harare.
Only 50 percent or 797 678 people in Harare have received the first dose.
On the second dose, Manicaland also tops the list with 59.9 percent of its population having received it.
The report states that a total of 814 118 people in Manicaland had received the second dose by Tuesday.
However, the province comes third to Matabeleland North and Matabeleland South on the third dose as it has so far recorded only 20.7 percent of its population.
The target population for Manicaland is 1 358 976.
According to the Health Ministry’s statistics, at nation level, 60 percent of the Zimbabwean population has received the first dose, while 44.7 percent has received the second dose.
Only 13.2 percent has received their third dose.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) says between 60 to 90 percent of needs to be immune to a disease for a country to reach herd immunity.
Speaking during a Covid-19 sensitisation meeting held in the city last week on Friday, provincial nutritionist, Mr Liberty Vhumisai said there is a low uptake for the second and third doses in Manicaland.
He said the Ministry of Health and Child Care is fighting vaccine hesitancy.
“To fight this low uptake, parents and caregivers should encourage and ensure that children from 12 years and above are vaccinated, either at school or other vaccination centres.
“We also appeal to community leaders to be role models in their communities by being vaccinated. They should also ensure that all people in their areas are vaccinated because we have a lot of people who are hesitant when it comes to being vaccinated, probably because of their religious beliefs or just out of fear,” he said.
Mr Vhumisai also said leaders of different religions should also be vaccinated and encourage their followers to do so.
“People should know that Covid-19 is still there and they should continue taking the necessary preventative measures to avoid and minimise being affected.
“It is important for people to know that to reduce their chances of getting Covid-19 and reducing their chances of severe bouts of the virus, they need to be fully vaccinated.
“Pregnant and breastfeeding women who are at significantly higher risk of contracting Covid-19 can be vaccinated after getting adequate information about the vaccines from health care workers. They should not be afraid that the vaccine will do anything other than protecting them from the virus,” he said.
Manicaland provincial health promotions officer, Mrs Agnes Mugumbate said the reason for the low uptake of the second and third doses is hesitance by the local communities.
“We are ready to administer vaccines. We have adequate resources, including staff, vaccines and vaccination posts across the province; so there is need for a research on why people are not being vaccinated,” she said.
Mrs Mugumbate said there is need to engage communities to discuss advantages of vaccination.
Online Reporter