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Rumbidzayi Zinyuke
Health Reporter
Almost every Zimbabwean is now aware that Covid-19 is real. They are in agreement with the idea of wearing masks, washing hands and keeping social distance to protect themselves and their loved ones.

Many also know that Covid-19 vaccines are available for free and that they can save lives.

But what they are not sure of is whether they should take the jabs or not.

The challenge of vaccine hesitancy is not limited to rural areas, where some might say misinformation is rife. Some in urban areas are still yet to accept that vaccines are not part of some conspiracy theories meant to decimate half of the World’s population.

For Mr Joseph Marume, not having first-hand experience of a Covid-19 illness or death makes him a bit hesitant to take these new vaccines.

“I know that Covid is real but I really have no idea how it affects a person, most of us have never witnessed it. We only hear about it on the radio and television but we don’t really have much information. Where did it come from? How could something they say is like flue, actually kill someone?”

“This is why you find that when there is a funeral in the community, people still come in numbers because they believe that they cannot stop mourning their relatives for something they do not understand,” he said.

He said almost everyone now understood HIV and Aids because they knew someone who had been affected either in their families or in the community. They had witnessed how ARVs had changed the lives of people living with HIV for the better.

But the Covid-19 vaccines are a different matter.

“We are not sure that the vaccine work but we have community health workers who move around our communities encouraging us to wear masks and also go for vaccination. I want to get mine but I am still unsure. Maybe if I see someone who has had the vaccine I will go,” said Mr Marume.

Mrs Nyevedzo Dzekurasa said she would continue wearing her mask and washing her hands for now.

She believes that she will eventually understand about Covid-19 and maybe that would convince her to go for the jab.

“They say it is good to get the vaccine but for some of us we are afraid. I am not sick and I have no symptoms but I am told to get the vaccine. It doesn’t make sense to me.  I will wait for others in my village to go and get the vaccine then I might also go,” she said.

“Or else I will get convinced once I see someone who has died from this disease. For now I am not ready. What if I die? But if I get ill and need to go to the hospital, maybe the nurses will say I should get vaccinated first. Then I will have no choice.”

Zimbabwe needs to vaccinate 10 million people to attain herd immunity by year end. But with many people still unsure of the vaccines, there is need to increase outreach programmes to raise awareness on the vaccines in communities.