The Government said it was taking all precautionary
measures before it rolls out Covid-19 vaccines.
Some religious leaders and opinion leaders have caused a
public outcry after making unfounded claims that Covid-19 vaccines under
development are designed to compromise people’s health.
Some renowned church leaders are discouraging their members
from taking the vaccines. Zimbabwe is in the process of procuring Covid-19
vaccines which Government says will be taken by volunteers after being
certified safe.
National Covid-19 taskforce coordinator Dr Agnes Mahomva
said Government was putting in place all the necessary safety measures before
rolling out Covid-19 treatment.
“We want to re-assure our communities, religious leaders,
religious groups and so on that Government is dedicated to ensuring that
whatever we provide for treatment or prevention is safe for everyone. The Government
will never plan on providing something that will damage communities and
individuals. That is not what Government is there to do,” said Dr Mahomva.
“So quite clearly as we move forward with the surge, we
will continue with our communication blitz on different aspects of our response
whether it’s management or taking care of patients in hospitals or whether it’s
the issues of vaccines. We will continue to do our best to give the right
information because we are very aware that we are literally competing with
social media which tends to give out such misinformation.”
She implored the media to partner Government in sharing
factual information about Covid-19. Dr Mahomva said the public should be aware
that whatever Government is doing with regards to the management of Covid-19 is
meant to protect them.
She said before any drug is used on Zimbabweans it will be
rigorously tested to prove its efficacy.
“We are not just saying to religious leaders but all
communities of Zimbabwe that Government never plans to issue medicines, drugs
that are not safe and not good for the community. It really doesn’t matter
whether the drug or medicine is meant to manage Covid-19 or a vaccine,
Government will always make sure that safety measures are taken,” said Dr Mahomva.
“We are guided by our recognised Medicines Control
Authority of Zimbabwe that always tests the medicine that we use. We are also
guided by international or global science and for that we tend to depend on the
World Health Organisation (WHO) because WHO gathers all the science globally
and then provides guidance on how countries can actually conduct treating or
vaccination. At the end of the day as Zimbabwe the priority is that whatever is
used for treatment or prevention is safe for the nation.”-Chronicle
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