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Thandeka Moyo-Ndlovu, Senior Health Reporter
ABOUT 20 000 Bulawayo residents have received their first Covid-19 dose in the ongoing national vaccination blitz targeting learners aged between 12 and 17 years.

So far, 96 of the targeted 153 schools have been reached in Bulawayo, both primary and secondary.

The province has a target of vaccinating at least 569 010 residents to achieve herd immunity against Covid-19 which has killed 5 438 Zimbabweans since the first case was recorded in 2020.

The ongoing upgraded Covid-19 vaccination blitz was launched by Vice-President and Minister of Health and Child Care Dr Constantino Chiwenga on March 20.

The blitz is being conducted in two phases during this month, April and May. The first phase will end in April, while the second phase will run from May 2 to 15.

The main aim of the campaign is to reach 70 percent of the total Zimbabwe population by the end of July 2022 in line with World Health Organization (WHO) recommendations.

Government has confirmed that the country has enough vaccine stocks for the planned national vaccination blitz having received 22 405 000 Covid-19 vaccine doses and utilized 8 758 655 so far.

Statistics from the Ministry of Health show that 20 765 Bulawayo residents have received their first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine since March 21.

“Over the past week, another 1 362 have received their second dose while 6 774 have received their third dose. So far Bulawayo has managed to record a 57,2 percent for dose 1 coverage, 46,7 percent for dose two and 4,2 percent for third coverage,” read the statistics.

In an interview yesterday, Bulawayo provincial medical director Dr Maphios Siamuchembu said the programme is going on well and commended parents and guardians for their support.

“Covid-19 vaccination campaign targeting the 12 to 15 year olds is in progress and the uptake in the schools is good so far.

School based vaccination of 16 to 17 year olds with assistance from partners is on-going as well,” said Dr Siamuchembu.

“Outreach teams are now conducting door to door activities and visiting busy areas such as the markets, streets, supermarkets and peri-urban hard to reach areas such as squatter camps to increase our numbers. All static sites continue to vaccinate and these involve the public and private sector.”

He said residents should be wary of complacent behaviours as WHO recommended measures are still in place to combat the spread of Covid-19.

In Bulawayo, 20 623 Covid-19 cases have been recorded with 859 deaths and 19 696 recoveries since the killer virus broke out in 2020.

“We are not yet at 100 percent as we are targeting to reach 153 schools and have all eligible learners vaccinated during the programme. However, we can tell that our uptake of the vaccine has increased even among older residents who continue accessing the vaccines from our static points,” he said.

Dr Siamuchembu said infection rates are likely to go up during the winter, hence the need to have every eligible resident vaccinated.

“Vaccination has proven to reduce the severity of disease, the need for hospitalisation and deaths. In Zimbabwe right now, to participate in any public event, it has become a requirement to bring a vaccination card. All these are reasons to encourage the citizenry to get vaccinated. I therefore encourage everyone above 12 to get vaccinated. The vaccines are available free of charge,” added Dr Siamuchembu.–@thamamoe