Tanzania to Join Covax Vaccines Sharing Facility and Commence Immunization Campaign
Tanzania has asked to join the COVAX global vaccine sharing facility and start its first coronavirus immunization campaign – more than 15 months after the start of the pandemic. The new policy is a major departure from the policies of late President John Magufuli, who denied coronavirus existed in Tanzania and dismissed the vaccines as dangerous.
In a news conference, the World Health Organization’s regional director in Africa, Matshidiso Moeti, said Tanzania is now formally working to join the COVAX facility.
Tanzanian government spokesperson Gerson Msigwa neither denied nor confirmed the information but added the government will release an official statement on vaccines at the appropriate time.
Tanzania’s new president, Samia Hassan, accepts that COVID-19 exists and has said she is looking to import vaccines, but weeks have gone by without any sign of vaccines being delivered to or administered in the country
Rights activists Tito Magoti said this is a good first step towards fighting the pandemic.
He says, it is a move that some of us Tanzanians were demanding. We are now getting a chance to have peace of mind, because we have been given choices that we were not able to get due to the denial of the government on the issue, he says. Tito added it is high time now for the government to intensify the issue of coronavirus because there has not been transparency on the issue of updates and measures.
It is difficult to gauge the clear extent of coronavirus in Tanzania as the country stopped reporting data in April 2020, after it had recorded 509 COVID-19 cases and 16 deaths.
But overcoming the late president’s claims that the virus did not exist in Tanzania, and that vaccines were ineffective, is still a challenge.
Some citizens like Ummy Matinde are worried about the efficacy of the vaccines.
She says during the leadership of the late John Magufuli, he didn’t allow the vaccines because he said they had negative outcomes into the human body. Under the leadership of Samia Hassan, she says, they are allowing it but they didn’t give out proof that shows whether the vaccines are good or not.
While Tanzania awaits the vaccines, Minister of Health Dorothy Gwajima has insisted people take all necessary precautions against COVID-19 including wearing face masks.
