The union of nurses in Zimbabwe said Friday that medical workers have been reluctant to take Covid-19 vaccine due to a lack of clarity over whether it protects against a virus variant that emerged in South Africa.
The vaccination campaign in the country began on February 18 with China's Sinopharm vaccine doses.
Zimbabwe is therefore the first nation in southern Africa to administer the Covid-19 vaccine.
According to president of the 12,000-member Zimbabwe Nurses Association Enock Dongo, "the uptake of the vaccine is low among health workers."
He stated, "As things stand, people are reluctant. We agreed to let our members decide whether to be vaccinated or not. We need information on the safety of the vaccine, its possible side effects if any and the percentage of protection against the South African variant which is prevalent in the country."
Developers claim that the vaccine is 79 percent effective against coronavirus. However, it is still unclear whether it is effective on the new more contagious variant of the virus.
China has promised to double 200,000 Sinopharm doses that Zimbabwe received, with the government buying another 1.8 million doses.
According to thr coordinator of the government's national response to the pandemic, Agnes Mahomva, that the uptake would increase in the coming weeks and the current reluctance "is very normal for a new programme. "
With the aim of bolstering confidence among health workers, the country's first person to be vaccinated was Zimbabwe's Vice President Constantino Chiwenga.
Zimbabwe hopes to vaccinate 10 million of its 14.5 million population and reach what is believed to be the herd-immunity threshold even
though it is already struggling with a deepening economic crisis and scant health resources.
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