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Nqobile Tshili, Chronicle Reporter
THE public has been urged to ignore Covid-19 conspiracy theories alleging that vaccines against the deadly pandemic were not safe and meant to harm them.

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.”- @nqotshili