More than six million children aged between 9 months and 15 years are set to be vaccinated from the 24th May to June 4 next month.
This was said by the Vice President who is also the Minister of Health And Childcare, Dr Constantino Chiwenga in Harare today when he was launching the campaign for Typhoid vaccination.
Vice President Chiwenga said they were going to first vaccinate more than six million children against Typhoid in their vaccination programme, then after that the initiative will be nationalized and cover all the children in Zimbabwe.
“The vaccination campaign which starts on 24 May up to 4 June 2021 will provide catch up Typhoid Conjugate Vaccine vaccinations for over 6 million children aged 9 months to below 15 years in line with recommendations from global and local immunization expects.
“Thereafter all children in Zimbabwe will begin to receive Typhoid Conjugate Vaccine through routine immunization at 9 months of age,” he said.
The Vice President also added that the Typhoid vaccination will not be the only prevention against the disease as he urged the community to also put some complementary efforts to prevent the disease.
“Like I mentioned Typhoid Conjugate Vaccine will not be the ultimate solution to the country’s Typhoid burden, that is the reason why as part of Typhoid vaccination campaign there will be concurrent complementary wash investments and activities to support health care workers and our communities in maintaining recommended food, environmental and personal hygiene standards even after introduction of the vaccine,” he added.
However, Dr Chiwenga also urged Zimbabweans to abide and follow Covid -19 prevention guidelines and get vaccinated on time to prevent the third wave which he said was being reported to be killing people in other countries.
“We continue to urge our people to get vaccinated against Covid-19 at their earliest opportunity especially as we see and hear reports of a third wave of the deadly pandemic in other counties.
“Even as we report fewer cases, we advise our people to continue practicing all recommended prevention behaviors as the Covid-19 is far from over,” said Dr Chiwenga.
Meanwhile, the Typhoid Conjugate Vaccine which is going to be used in Zimbabwe protects against typhoid fever for at least 3 years and it is safe and effective. This vaccine was also used to contain the outbreak of Typhoid in Harare City in 2019 and is now being rolled out to benefit all children in Zimbabwe.
Dr Chiwenga was accompanied by Deputy Minister of Health and Child Care Dr John Mangwiro and other members who attended online who includes World Health Organisation Represantative, Dr A Gasasira and UNICEF Representatives, Dr Tajudeen Oyewale.
