Government last week conducted a Covid-19 vaccination drive in Zimbabwe targeting children aged 12 and above sending vaccination figures to new highs.
The campaign has lifted the number of people who have taken at least one dose to 44 percent, still short of the government’s missed target to vaccinate 60 percent of the population by Christmas last year, but a step the officials say to achieving herd immunity where the country has enough immune individuals to stop transmission.
Many parents say they support the vaccination drive to prevent schools from becoming centres of infection, although others remain sceptical.
“Let them get vaccinated, it will save us a lot of trouble. Maybe it will stop the constant closures of schools … the online lessons drain us each time the schools are closed,” said one parent who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Zimbabwe is gradually returning to its normal school calendar after two years of intermittent and sometimes prolonged closures due to waves of Covid-19 cases.
Adults are also being targeted in the vaccination campaign which will run until mid-May, according to Vice President Constantino Chiwenga, who is also the country’s health minister.
On March 18, just 3,580 people volunteered for the first jab of the two-dose vaccines being used in Zimbabwe. Fast forward a few days later, on March 24, and that number had shot up to 115,008 after the new vaccination campaign was launched.
