Catholics give thumbs up to vaccination

Source: Catholics give thumbs up to vaccination | The Herald

Archbishop Robert Ndlovu

Farirai Machivenyika

Senior Reporter

The ongoing vaccination against the Covid-19 pandemic is good for the country and everyone should get the jab, the Roman Catholic’s Archbishop of Harare Robert Christopher Ndlovu has said.

Archbishop Ndlovu said this when he led over 70 priests and nuns in receiving their first jabs of the Sinopharm vaccine at Jubilee House in Harare yesterday.

Zimbabwe is in the second stage of the first phase of the vaccination programme, which was officially launched by President Mnangagwa in Victoria Falls on Wednesday.

Archbishop Ndlovu said he felt normal getting the jab.

“It’s just normal, it just feels like a small pinch. I would encourage everyone to take advantage of this programme because I think it’s a good programme, there’s nothing to lose,” he said.

“I know there may be some misgivings here and there but it’s normal when new things come. But I think it’s better to protect ourselves this way, so I would encourage everyone to get vaccinated. 

“It’s good for the nation and it’s good for everyone, it’s a global thing that is going on, vaccination is going on all over the world so why should we be left behind? So I would encourage everyone to get vaccinated.”

Speaking at the same event, Harare City Council director of health services Dr Prosper Chonzi said vaccination was one of the ways to reduce the impact of the disease.

He encouraged Zimbabweans to be vaccinated for the country to achieve herd immunity.

Herd immunity is a form of indirect protection from an infectious disease that can occur with some diseases when a sufficient percentage of a population has become immune to an infection, whether through vaccination or previous infections, thereby reducing the likelihood of infection for individuals who lack immunity.

In Zimbabwe, Government is targeting to vaccinate 10 million people to achieve the herd immunity.

The vaccination programme started by focusing on frontline workers such as health, security and media personnel.

It has now been extended to include teachers, restaurant and tourism workers, and the judiciary, among others.

President Mnangagwa, who was vaccinated on Wednesday, has also called on Zimbabweans to get vaccinated and shun conspiracy theories against vaccines.

“Let me reiterate the global call by the World Health Organisation that ‘no one is safe, until everyone is safe’. I therefore challenge all of us in our respective communities to accept the vaccination programme and to shun vaccine hesitancy, misinformation and the negative conspiracy theories. 

“Getting vaccinated is a personal and a family responsibility as well as a national obligation. Vaccination further advances our country’s global obligation to combat the continued spread and negative socio-economic effects of the Covid-19 pandemic in line with the United Nations and African Union expectations,” said President Mnangagwa.