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Rumbidzayi Zinyuke Senior Health Reporter

As the Government continues to push for an increased uptake of the Covid-19 vaccine through a strengthened inoculation programme, the country has since breached the 1 million mark in the booster shots administered since February last year.

This is on the back of a stepped up vaccination campaign that has seen numbers increase since the relaxation of regulations that demanded the mandatory wearing of masks.

According to the Ministry of Health and Child Care, as at August 29, a total of 6 423 538 first doses of the Covid-19 vaccine have been administered, while 4 781 286 people had received their second dose, and 1 016 189 their third dose.

Zimbabwe is targeting to inoculate 11,2 million people, representing 70 percent of its population, to attain herd immunity.

The national programme was launched in February last year targeting all frontline workers, the elderly and those with underlying conditions.

In September, the campaign had been expanded to include the 16 to 17-year-old age group before it was further expanded to include 12 to 15-year-olds.

With a target to inoculate 1 590 842 people in Harare province, a total of 769 787 have so far received their first jab while 582 200 have taken the second shot.

Another 106 952 have received the booster shot.

Manicaland province has the second highest target population for vaccination at 1 358 976 of which 955 641 have received the first dose, 742929 the second jab and another 176018 have taken three jabs.

Mashonaland East, Mashonaland West and Masvingo have set targets to vaccinate 1 348 652, 1 316 062 and 1 185 116 people respectively.

So far, a total of 698 089 people have received the first dose in Mashonaland East, while 532 743 have had the second and 102 214 have received the booster shot.

In Mashonaland West, 680 271 people have had one shot, while 471 482 and 107 173 have had the second and third jabs. Masvingo has administered 659 429 first shots, 531 336 and 99 859 second and third doses have been administered respectively.

Midlands, Mashonaland Central, Bulawayo, Matabeleland North, Matabeleland South and Chitungwiza have also made headway in administering the Covid-19 vaccines achieving first dose vaccination rates of 54,7 percent, 64,4 percent, 69,6 percent, 67,7 percent and 58,1 percent respectively.

Speaking at the post-Cabinet briefing on Tuesday, Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services Minister Monica Mutsvangwa said the country’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic was still on track despite a slight increase of new cases reported in seven provinces.

“However, in view of the small increase in new cases in seven provinces, Cabinet resolved that all provinces must continue to strengthen their Covid-19 response, ramp up vaccinations in schools once schools reopen in September 2022 and prioritise those that have not yet reached the 70 percent vaccination coverage target and pay attention to the control of other medical outbreaks,” she said.

Experts have called on the Government to continue implementing initiatives that will encourage Zimbabweans to get vaccinated.

They claim that the outbreaks still being witnessed in other countries globally means that the pandemic is still around and Zimbabwe needs to ensure that its population is safe in the event that another outbreak hits.

Community Working Group on Health (CWGH) executive director Mr Itai Rusike said community participation was the way to go in getting their buy-in.

“The Government should seriously consider coming up with additional incentives and benefits for the people that are fully vaccinated so that a lot more people can appreciate the need to be vaccinated,” he said.

“That is the only way to see further relaxation of the Covid-19 restrictions and eventually remove all the outstanding restrictions like we are now seeing in other countries that have totally removed all the Covid-19 restrictions after reaching the required herd immunity.”

Mr Rusike said the fact that people were now facing mask fatigue meant that poor compliance and adherence might be a challenge hence the need for more targeted interventions.

Zimbabweans have generally expressed their willingness to get vaccinated if it will allow them to go without masks.

“We have been wearing these masks for far too long and I am just tired of it,” said Ms Fiona Moyo from Greendale.

“I would get that third jab if it means I can go without the mask. Since the Covid-19 cases are now few, we should be free to leave the masks.”

Mr Tanaka Muzenda from Granary said he had not been vaccinated because of the negative sentiments he had heard about the vaccines, but was now willing to get the jab after realising all his fears were caused by fake news.