Zim assessing Covid-19 vaccines

Harare, (New Ziana) President Emmerson Mnangagwa on Saturday said Zimbabwe’s health experts are assessing Covid-19 vaccines and will recommend a suitable one for the southern African nation.

On Friday,the number of cases reached 30 523, including 21 080 recoveries and 962 deaths.

In an address at State House, President Mnangagwa said his Government is collaborating with different countries and expects to roll out “a safe and effective” vaccine “soon”.

He urged citizens to continue using preventative measures such as wearing face masks in public, sanitizing hands and observing social distancing for the country to win the fight against the Covid19 pandemic.

“The pandemic has been indiscriminate…there are no spectators, adjudicators, no holier than thou, no supermen or superwomen, we are all exposed. We are all potential victims. We are all affected, one way or the other. We must stand together arm in arm as united people..” he said.

Transport and Infrastructure Development Minister Joel Biggie Matiza is the latest high profile figure to succumb to the virus. Others are ministers Sibusiso Moyo (Foreign Affairs), Agriculture Minister Perrence Shiri and Ellen Gwaradzimba (Manicaland Provincial Affairs) also died from COVID-19 related complications.

Former Education Minister Aeneas Chigwedere, ex-Zimbabwe Prisons and Correctional Services Commissioner-General Paradzayi Zimondi and Zanu-PF politician and businessman Christopher Chigumba also succumbed to the virus on Friday.

The President said once a suitable vaccine has been approved, frontline workers would be prioritized.

“Health workers will receive the vaccine first, once it arrives.

“We will spare no effort, spare no resource to save the lives of Zimbabweans. We will spare no resource to save our frontline workers, who have been the heroes in the pandemic,” he said.

He added: “The Covid-19 situation in the country is worrisome and threatens to become dire, but there’s hope in rising recovery rates.”

The President hinted on stricter COVID-19 lockdown measures. Currently, the country is on lockdown level 4.

“The security forces are ready to tighten the lockdown if need be,” he said.

In the past few days, Zimbabwe’s Covid-19 recovery rate has risen to 69 percent after falling to 50 percent in the past two weeks.

New Ziana