Speaking at the graduation of 1 200 prison officers in
Ntabazinduna near Bulawayo on Saturday, Mnangagwa said no one had the right to
refuse the jab.
Mnangagwa has previously said people who have not been
vaccinated would be denied access to some public services in future and critics
took his latest utterances to mean that he will impose compulsory vaccination.
“I urge all officers, graduates to take the injection. No-one
can refuse,” Mnangagwa said. The southern African country launched its
vaccination programme in February this year and to date, 747 330 people have
received their first jab and 502 178 the second dose by June 26.
But Zimbabwe like most African States, is facing an acute
shortage of vaccines at a time when it is in the grip of a devastating third
wave of COVID-19 being driven by deadly Indian and South African variants.
The latest Health ministry statistics reveal that the
country experienced four deaths on Saturday and 801 new infections.
The country is expecting 2,5 million vaccines from China in
the next few days and Mnangagwa sought to assure the nation that everyone will
have to be vaccinated.
“The government will continue to ensure the availability of
vaccines,” he said, adding that 500 000 doses were expected yesterday (Sunday).
“So no one will escape being injected,” Mnangagwa added.
But Community Working Group on Health executive director
Itai Rusike said even in a crisis situation like COVID-19, governments must
respect human rights and should not force people to be vaccinated as this would
create resistance.
Instead, he said, government should increase vaccine
literacy and awareness and also desist from bringing politics into the
acquisition of vaccines. Government has so far approved Chinese vaccines
Sinovac and Sinopharm, Russian jab Sputnik V, and India’s Covaxin.
“What is important is for government to scale up
information dissemination and convince the general public to appreciate why
they need to be vaccinated because taking up vaccines should be done willingly
by people with COVID-19 vaccine literacy,” Rusike said.
“Force-marching people to take vaccines will not result in
high uptake, but in resistance and by imposing vaccines, the country may lose
its vaccination programme gains where it is considered highly by other
countries in the region.
“Threatening people by saying it will be compulsory will
infringe on their human rights and it does not make sense to do so when the
country does not have adequate vaccines in Bulawayo and Harare at the moment
and there are several people who got their first jab, but are failing to get
the second dose,” he said.
Rusike said Mnangagwa could only achieve inoculation of at least 60% of the population (approximately 10 million people) if the country embraced the Covax facility and used its budget surplus to procure more vaccines.
“The 500 000 vaccines to be delivered can only benefit 250
000 people because two doses are needed.
What we are seeing is the Look East preference on vaccines, where China,
Russia and India are the only countries where we are getting vaccines. It looks like politics is playing its
part. We also need information on where
the US$100 million war chest that Finance minister Mthuli Ncube claimed was
available for vaccines came from because the 2021 budget was done and we need
to know the sources of the funds,” Rusike said.
He said in the rural areas, people were walking more than
30km to access health services, and force marching them to get COVID-19
vaccines would be difficult.
Medical and Dental Private Practitioners of Zimbabwe
Association president Johannes Marisa said while Mnangagwa’s utterances could
be well-meaning, force-marching people to get vaccinated was an infringement of
human rights.
“Mnangagwa was just trying to relay the message that it is
important for everyone to get vaccinated. It is unfortunate but people cannot
be forced to take vaccines as everyone has their own rights. If really
government compels people to get vaccinated, then I foresee heaps of litigation
papers in a short time,” Marisa said. Newsday
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