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Harare Bureau
ZIMBABWE expects to receive two million Covid-19 vaccine doses on Thursday and another 1,5 million next week as Government endeavours to meet the growing demand for the jabs amid a surge in cases and related deaths.

As at July 4, the country had recorded 54 474 Covid-19 cases and 1 878 deaths with active cases rising to 12 357.

The increasing infection rate has highlighted the need to increase the pace at which citizens are getting the vaccine to ensure the country attains herd immunity.

Health and Child Care Deputy Minister, Dr John Mangwiro, who toured health institutions, business centres and tobacco floors in Chinhoyi and Karoi at the weekend, said the country was ready to meet the vaccines demand, especially in areas where positive cases continued to surge.

“We received 500 000 last week and expect another two million doses on Thursday and another 1,5 million next week. These vaccines are already paid for as highlighted by Finance Ministry. Zimbabweans should continue to come up for vaccination because this is important,” he said.

President Mnangagwa last week highlighted the need to ramp up the vaccination exercise especially in hotspot areas, border towns and areas where multitudes of people gather such as tobacco and cotton sales floors and market places.

Announcing the enhanced level four national lockdown measures, the President said a national blitz would be launched in these areas to ensure all people in these areas get the vaccine.

Currently, hotspot areas that have been identified include Kariba, Karoi and Chinhoyi in Mashonaland West, Centenary in Mashonaland Central, Marondera and Mutoko in Mashonaland East, Chiredzi and Gutu in Masvingo province, Northern Suburbs, Nkulumane and Emakhandeni in Bulawayo, Kwekwe in Midlands and Harare.

Recently, the country received 500 000 doses of Sinopharm vaccines and the additional doses will ensure all centres can attend to people in need of the vaccine.

Dr Mangwiro said distribution of the expected doses would be done according to provinces and district health facilities’ holding capacity of their cold chains adding that institutions were free to request for more jabs once they had exhausted their allocations.

“Mashonaland West was allocated 20 000 on Saturday and the Government is ready to distribute more. The distribution exercise to the last point is in motion and while the province is currently the epicentre of the virus, the allocation of 20 000 was due to its holding capacity,” he said.

He added that his visit to Mashonaland West province was as a result of the spiralling Covid-19 cases, the need to push for vaccination uptake and training of health care givers including student nurses.

Dr Mangwiro raised concern over reports of high levels of complacency by citizens in Karoi and Chinhoyi and called on the health department to set up vaccination points at the GMB depots, tobacco floors and Cottco buying points across the province.

Zimbabwe has so far procured 1,2 million Sinopharm and Sinovac vaccines from China. The Government has also received donations of 400 000 Sinopharm vaccines from the Chinese government and an additional 35 000 from the government of India while the Zimbabwe Defence Forces has received a donation of 100 000 Sinopharm doses from the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA).

Another consignment of 25 000 doses of the Russian Sputnik V was received from diamond producer Alrosa, last month.

The private sector has also chipped in to complement Government efforts to procure more vaccines that are being administered at various centres across the country.

The country needs 20 million vaccine doses to vaccinate 60 percent of the total population.
By Sunday, 793 077 people countrywide had received their first jab while 568 133 had been fully vaccinated.