Mutare vaccinates nearly 40% of its target

Source: Mutare vaccinates nearly 40% of its target – The Zimbabwe Independent

KENNETH MATIMAIRE

A TOTAL of 70 940 vaccine doses have been administered in Mutare, which represents 37% of its herd immunity target.

Data analysis drawn from the City of Mutare’s Covid-19 update indicates that 46 692 residents have received first doses while 24 248 have received second doses as of July 20, 2021.

This is against the city’s target to vaccinate 126 000 residents to reach herd immunity.

The available data highlights that 24,7% of the entire city urban population has been vaccinated.

“We need 126 000 people to be vaccinated to achieve herd immunity. So, if we look at the numbers, we are doing well. It speaks to the support that we are getting from the government in terms of vaccination kits.”

“Also, it shows that people are responding well to the government’s thrust of prioritising border areas. A lot of people have realised the detriment of Covid-19. The level of self-consciousness has tremendously improved,” Mutare City spokesperson Spren Mutiwi said.

Mutare shares the border with Mozambique and has been identified by the government as one of the areas of priority in the vaccine rollout.

The local authority confirmed that the first and second doses of Sinopharm and Sinovac are readily available at council clinics and administered to people above the age of 18 years except the pregnant or critically ill.

Mutare acting town clerk Anthony Mutara indicated that they had put in place a cocktail of measures to ensure that the eastern border city is ready for the Covid-19 third wave.

These ranged from, inter alia, doubling efforts in the vaccination exercise and making use of media channels to encourage residents to vaccinate.

While the city vaccination exercise appears to be progressing well, the same cannot be said of the province, data analyses show.

Manicaland province has a total of 256 983 vaccine doses administered with 167 682 constituting first doses against a population of 1,753 million residents, according to the 2012 census.

Data analyses highlight that this translates to 9,56% of the provincial population vaccinated.

The Zimbabwe Peace Project (ZPP) in its Sixth Edition of the Covid-19 Accountability Tracker attributed the low vaccination exercise in the province to unavailability of vaccines.

This, ZPP highlighted, has led to overcrowding of and long queues at centres where many people have tended to walk away without receiving their jabs.

“There were cases in Mutasa North District, Manicaland province, of non-availability of the second dose and overcrowded vaccination centres,” reads the report.

A further data analysis highlights that the city’s high density suburbs of Chikanga and Dangamvura have become hotspots as they recorded the highest number of Covid-19 cases.

Data show that Chikanga (19,53%) and Dangamvura (18,29%) have a combined 37,82% of Covid-19 cases out of the 2 176 confirmed cases in the city.

Sakubva has recorded a total of 156 cases, Hobhouse 134, Greenside  98, Fairbridge Park 54, Yeovil 67, Murambi 63, Morningside 61, Westlea 58 and Palmerstone 59 cases.

“Following a period of a flat curve, cases are on the rise as evidenced by an upward trend in the past days. The city recorded 58 new cases on July 20. Currently the recovery rate is at 77 % while the case fatality rate is at 4,8%,” reads the report.

A total of 104 deaths and 1 680 recoveries have been recorded in Mutare since March 2020.

Females are slightly more affected than males with 50,3% of the cases while males contribute 57,7 % of deaths.

Zimbabwe has vaccinated 12,1% of its targeted 9 763 988 targeted population to reach herd immunity as at July 20.