In February, Zimbabwe joined the rest of the world and started its first phases of the COVID-19
vaccination programme following the acquisition of vaccines from China.
This brought renewed hope in the country.
However, during the month of March, the programme did not take off across the country.
The gap between the rich and the poor was exposed here as the vaccine was yet to get to the
rural and the poor urban communities
The acquisition of the vaccines in Zimbabwe has been shrouded in secrecy, and lack of
transparency and people’s trust, as government has so far only informed citizens that it
acquired the vaccines, but did not state the terms and conditions under which that happened.
After two batches of donations up to 400 000 doses the country has reportedly procured in
excess of one million doses.
In addition, there has been glaring discrepancies in the allocation of the vaccines to places
outside Harare.
For example, it was reported that Kariba rural district received only 512 vaccines.
In some towns, as established by ZPP, only the elderly and essential workers are getting the
vaccine and yet in Harare, anyone who visits the major centres among them Wilkins Infectious
Disease and Parirenyatwa Hospitals can get the vaccine.
The programme has since moved to local council clinics but there is still an information gap as
at some centres, healthcare workers are claiming that only the elderly, those with chronic
illnesses and essential workers can get the vaccine.
There have been reports that some individuals – connected to government- have been illegally
selling fake COVID-19 vaccine certificates and while some have been arrested, the issue raises
serious alarm over the lack of clear due diligence measures in the management of the
vaccination process.
There is also inadequate information on the effects of the vaccines to some key population
groups such as pregnant women and breast feeding mothers.
ZPP observes that there is a great need to deepen advocacy to have government provide
adequate awareness on the accessibility, availability, distribution and safety of the vaccines. The
information distribution should be decentralised so that the general citizens can make informed
decisions when they get the vaccines.
Government needs to do more to gain public trust on which vaccines to use for various groups
of people, and should make sure there is equitable distribution.
The Chief Co-ordinator of the national response to the COVID-19 pandemic in the Office of the
President and Cabinet, Dr Agnes Mahomva, said the roll out plan is dependent on the reception
of vaccine and government will continue to review the progress and will make decisions based
on that.
Mahomva said that they are following the manufacturers’s specifications and guidelines that do
not allow those under 18 to get the vaccine.
“We are guided by the manufacturers and the science used to determine who gets the vaccine
or not.”
Mahomva said they were happy with the current progress as the numbers were increasing.
As ZPP, we continue to implore government to increase their efforts to raise more awareness on
the vaccination process and to ensure that information is translated to all languages and is
packaged in a way that is friendly to Persons with Disability.
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