Churches offered group vaccinations

Churches willing to have their members vaccinated as groups can approach the Ministry of Health and Child Care so that teams of doctors and nurses within a church can get the required doses. People with underlying conditions are also being urged to get vaccinated so they can boost their immune system and protect themselves against Covid-19.  

Health and Child Care Deputy Minister Dr John Mangwiro offered churches assistance to accelerate vaccination of their members after touring central stores at Parirenyatwa Group of Hospitals yesterday where vaccines, including those for Covid-19 are stored before distribution to provinces and districts.

Dr Mangwiro said he was happy with the on-going vaccination programme and noted that the normal vaccination programme against a swathe of childhood infections was still running and mothers should take their children for routine vaccinations.  

"We are continuing to vaccinate our little babies with BCG, polio, all doses, diphtheria," he said.  

"This is very important that we continue vaccinating our children and mothers should take babies for vaccination.  

"We encourage churches who want to get vaccinated as a group to come and get vaccines. We know there are doctors and nurses in churches. We encourage them to come forward so we can hand over the vaccines to them and we can, under supervision, vaccinate groups and all those people who need to be vaccinated.

"This is a serious call. We need everyone so that we put shoulders on the wheel and we get the herd immunity we want to achieve of 60 percent."  

Dr Mangwiro urged those with underlying conditions like cancer, asthma, HIV, hypertension and diabetes, liver and kidney problems to get vaccinated and boost their immunity.  

"People with underlying conditions are at risk from Covid-19 because their immune is already compromised," he said.

"These should be on the forefront of getting vaccinated to boost their immune. We encourage people that after vaccinations should continue taking their medication."  Dr Mangwiro urged people to seek help from experts rather than relying on those without adequate knowledge on Covid-19.  

"We also have virtual hospitals where people can seek help on Covid-19.

"We have also roped in private players so they can help us with the vaccination. Vaccination is going on well. Figures of cases are going down, but deaths are still there. We do not want even a single death. This is why we want to continue encouraging people to get vaccinated."  

Dr Mangwiro said studies had shown that 90 percent of people succumbing to Covid-19 were not vaccinated.  

"This is science," he said.

"Covid-19 disease and vaccines were discovered by scientists and we should continue to follow science which is leading us."