President Emmerson Mnangagwa on Saturday said every Zimbabwean was mandated to be injected with COVID-19 vaccines as the country aims to achieve herd immunity.
He made the remarks while at the graduation of 1 200 prison officers in Ntabazinduna, near Bulawayo.
The Zanu Pf first secretary reiterated that vaccination remains voluntary in Zimbabwe whilst urging the graduating prison officers to be vaccinated.
He also promised that Zimbabwe will continue to receive more Covid-19 jabs and everybody was supposed to be vaccinated.
“I urge all the officers, graduates to take the injection, no one can refuse.
“The government will continue to ensure the availability of vaccines and on Sunday we’re receiving another 500 thousand doses and at the end of the month we will receive another two million, so no one will escape being injected,” he said.
President Mnangagwa sentiments came following Vice President Constantino Chiwenga who last week said market traders will not be given stalls unless they can prove that they have been vaccinated.
Despite Mnangagwa’s call for every Zimbabwean to be vaccinated Community Working Group on Health executive director Itai Rusike said even in a crisis situation like COVID-19, governments must respect human rights and should not force people to be vaccinated as this would create resistance.
Instead, he said, government should increase vaccine literacy and awareness and also desist from bringing politics into the acquisition of vaccines.
The government has so far approved Chinese vaccines Sinovac and Sinopharm, Russian jab Sputnik V, and India’s Covaxin.
Meanwhile more than 747 000 Zimbabweans have taken at least one dose of Covid-19 vaccines.
Currently, Zimbabwe is experiencing a continuous surge in coronavirus cases which has led the government to put strict lockdown measures to Covid-19 hotspots areas
Since March last year, Zimbabwe has officially recorded at least 46 000 infections, 37 604 recoveries and 1 725 deaths.
