Villagers call for door-to-door Covid-19 vaccine campaign

Tsholotsho villagers have called for a door-to-door Covid-19 vaccination campaign as most of them are failing to access vaccination centres in the district due to long distances.

These views came out during district Covid-19 campaigns which started yesterday to raise awareness in rural communities on the global pandemic.

In an interview with CITE, Tsholotsho District Information Officer, Melody Mzapi said they are conducting an eight-day campaign as a district to inform villagers about the Covid-19 vaccination centres.

"Yesterday we started our eight-day campaign, reaching out to villagers around Tsholotsho District on Covid-19 vaccination centers near them. This is a program of different stakeholders and what stood out yesterday is that most old people are appealing for door-to-door vaccination as they are not able to walk to vaccination centers due to different ailments and old age," said Mzapi.

"The main message is that people should get vaccinated, at the same time when they get vaccinated, they should continue following the World Health Organisation (WHO) guidelines to mask up, sanitize as we are noticing that even if some people are vaccinated, they still get infected," she said.

She said two people have succumbed so far during the third wave in the district while said 21 new Covid-19 cases were recorded yesterday.

"In this current wave, we have recorded two deaths and it was unvaccinated and old people," she said.

National Aids Council (NAC) Provincial Manager for Matabeleland North province, Dingani Ncube also added that they are also integrating Covid-19 messages with HIV messages.

"We are integrating Covid-19 messages with HIV messages after realizing that people living with HIV are at greater risk of getting Covid-19 and dying due to their compromised immune status while some of them have been shunning vaccination," said Ncube.

"Our message to people living with HIV is that they need to continue adhering to treatment to avoid getting opportunistic infections including Covid-19 and we are encouraging them to be vaccinated."

Ncube said the emphasis to communities is on following Covid-19 prevention protocols, discouraging social gatherings, and also discouraging communities from attending funerals in large numbers.

In addition, Chief Magama also urged villagers to continue observing Covid-19 regulations and seek medical attention when not well.

"Vaccines are now available in our health centres, please go and get vaccinated so that you can be protected from this pandemic," said Chief Magama.