Chronicle Editor
Leonard Ncube, Victoria Falls Reporter
PEOPLE in Matabeleland North have embraced the vaccination programme as long queues were observed when the province rolled out the inoculation process on Wednesday morning.
Matabeleland North Provincial Medical Director Dr Munekai Padingani, who was moving around districts monitoring the process, said the province received 50 000 first-line doses of Sinovac and 15 000 of Sinopharm.
The number of people who had been inoculated on the first day had not been provided by end of the day.
“All districts have started vaccinating and we expect people to come in numbers. We haven’t compiled statistics as yet but I visited Victoria Falls where I noticed a long queue at the hospital and now I am on my way to Hwange to check,” said Dr Padingani.
A news crew visited Victoria Falls Hospital in the morning where there was a long queue of more than 200 people waiting to be vaccinated.
The hospital is the only centre where vaccination is being done in the resort city after health authorities dedicated a majority of the jabs to Hwange urban.
Hwange District Medical Officer Dr Fungai Mvura said health institutions had prior to the current exercise been inundated by inquiries from residents who wanted to be vaccinated.
She said the district received around 14 000 vaccines, but needs about 30 000 to cover all eligible people for the first dose.
“We have allocated the bulk of the doses for the district to Hwange urban and we had to bring a few to Victoria Falls to cater for those who did not vaccinate last time. We need about 30 000 doses to cover the whole district on the first dose because our target eligible population is around 60 000 people.
“Since we managed to vaccinate over 30 000 last time, it means we need about 30 000 doses for the first dose, making it 60 000 in total to cover the first and second doses per person,” she said.
Dr Musinami-Mvura said the programme is targeting those between 18 and 80 years excluding lactating and pregnant women, while those with chronic illnesses should consult health experts before being jabbed.
In Hwange, Colliery Hospital, Empumalanga Clinic, Lukosi Hospital, Chibondo Clinic and ZRP Hwange Clinic have been designated as vaccination centres and there were significant queues yesterday.
In Binga 17 clinics dotted around the district are vaccination centres including Binga District Hospital and ZRP Clinic.
Various points have also been established in other districts where people were reportedly slowly turning up.
Health officials have encouraged members of the public to take vaccination seriously as it reduces the risk of getting ill from the disease.
Statistics show that people who were vaccinated are at less risk of severe infection compared to those who were not and a majority of new cases are also reported on unvaccinated individuals.
Players in the tourism industry have also been appealing to members of the public to vaccinate to prevent further spread of the disease so as to facilitate quick revival of the tourism industry which is the mainstay of the province.
There were 246 new cases Matabeleland North on Monday, a majority of them being people who were not vaccinated.
Binga had the highest 72 new cases, 69 of them were not vaccinated, Hwange 72 and 58 were not vaccinated while others are yet to be confirmed, Nkayi 28 cases, 16 of them not vaccinated, Tsholotsho 26 and 23 not vaccinated. Lupane had 20 cases and not yet confirmed whether they were vaccinated or not, Bubi 12 and 10 were not vaccinated while all 16 cases in Umguza were not vaccinated.
President Mnangagwa on Tuesday said about 80 percent of all new infections being recorded in the country in the past two weeks are due to the Delta variant that originated in India. – @ncubeleon
Online Reporter