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Mukudzei Chingwere in Penhalonga 
Government is stepping up the quest for national herd immunity by rolling out the vaccination nets into areas which up to now had suffered exclusion from the provision of social services.

This conforms with the pledge of leaving no one behind in the Government’s goal of universal health coverage and access to general healthcare services aimed at improving people’s livelihoods.

The Herald visited an informal settlement near Redwing Mine in Mutasa District where the health outreach team was vaccinating people as well as offering HIV services and treatment of other ailments.

Covid-19 vaccination, which was integrated into the routine programming of the Ministry of Health and Child Care, has been warmly welcomed by the illegal miners in this community, and people are being taught about adherence and containment measures.

Sister in charge at the Redwing Mine clinic in Penhalonga, Sister Constance Masamah said the ongoing vaccination blitz is receiving a huge uptake.

“People in this community are very excited that we have come with Covid-19 vaccines and we are also entertaining other health concerns.

“There is a huge uptake of vaccines and they are happy to receive counselling for other diseases as well,” she said.

The community has dwellers from various parts of the country who come in search of gold.

Speaking to the Herald most of them said they cannot afford to leave the mine for healthcare services since they will be protecting their potential revenue.

“They are bullies who come to this community to take away our hard-earned ore, so we cannot afford to leave this place to go to the clinic, we are very happy services have come here,” said one identified as Mr Prosper Nyandoro.

“We are very happy that they have brought services here, most people here want to be vaccinated as well as to be treated for other diseases but there is a general poor health-seeking behaviour,” said Mr Godknows Zvinonzwa.

“I am fully vaccinated but I got treatment for other diseases that have been troubling me and was advised to visit the clinic for further treatment,” said someone who opted not to go on record.

Most of them implored Government to continue with mobile teams regardless of outbreaks of diseases to encourage good health-seeking behaviour.