Zimbabwe is targeting to vaccinate about 70 percent of the population by end of July 2022 in line with World Health Organisation advice.
According to the Ministry of Health and Child Care reports, Zimbabwe has so far received 22,4 million Covid-19 doses and has administered over 8 million doses to date.
This means over 13 million doses are still available for those receiving their second and booster shots while accommodating those in need of the initial jab.
Addressing the media recently, National Coordinator on government’s response to Covid-19, Agnes Mahomva said the country has, however, had its fair share of vaccine uptake challenges but they have since come up with new campaigns.
“The main aim of the campaign is to ramp up the vaccination coverage in order to reach 70% of the total population by end of July 2022 in line with the WHO’s new global target of 70% total population coverage by mid-2022.
“The campaign is in collaboration with all stakeholders including community and church leaders,” said Mahomva.
Mahomva highlighted that innovative approaches, including outreach services and targeted vaccination messages for key community groups, will be used in order to address the challenges.
She said additional vaccine doses had been procured and paid for and were awaiting delivery once the government gives a green light to the manufacturers.
Despite the constant change in the virus, the WHO has maintained that vaccination remains the most effective protection against hospitalisation, severe disease and death.
“Vaccines that have received WHO emergency use listing, across several vaccine platforms, provide a high level of protection against severe disease and death caused by variants of concern (VOCs),” a preliminary report WHO noted in January.
The coronavirus is expected to continue evolving and health experts have reiterated the importance of vaccinating people.
Since March 2020 when the first case of Covid-19 was detected, Zimbabwe has recorded 246 481 cases, 238 581 recoveries and 5 446 deaths as at April 2 this year.
