Zimbabwe may experience a third wave of COVID-19 if the population is not urgently vaccinated against the novel coronavirus, a top official in the Ministry of Health and Child Care has said.
Speaking during a COVID-19 vaccines informational webinar, Portia Manangazira, the director of epidemiology and disease control in the ministry, said Zimbabwe needs to attain population immunity by vaccinating about 80 per cent of its citizens.
Manangazira argued that the current COVID-19 control measures such as social distancing and good hygiene will not be enough to avert a COVID-19 third wave. She said:
If nothing significant is done, we will get a third wave. We need to bring up the population immunity through vaccination of a critical amount of the population. If we vaccinate say 80%, it means the remaining 20% is protected.
Manangazira said Zimbabwe would initially receive doses from the Covax Facility, with the first 3% for healthcare workers and then about 20% for the vulnerable.
She added that Zimbabwe would get 200 000 doses from the Chinese on condition that the country buys its vaccines from China.
