Bulawayo is reportedly facing a shortage of Covid-19 vaccines with residents who went to vaccination centres intending to take their first doses turned back.
Only those who are taking their second doses are being attended to.
Bulawayo City Council (BCC) Director of Health Services Dr Edwin Sibanda confirmed the development adding that they were expecting a delivery of more vaccines on Thursday.
“We have not received them because what the Ministry is trying to do is to check stock on excess so they are trying to collect that excess and bring it down here, as of this morning (Thursday) the vaccines had not arrived,” said Dr Sibanda.
He said the Ministry of Health and Child Care initially distributed equal doses in all provinces but others had a low uptake.
“When they distributed vaccines originally, we all had equal amounts, but in other provinces, the uptake compared to consumption was slow while some provinces such as Bulawayo and Harare are moving fast,” said Dr Sibanda.
“So, we need to move from those sites which had too much to Bulawayo and Harare where there is more consumption, thus what they are working on we don’t know how long that will take we are waiting.
“When we jab people, we do that when we already have the second dose, the first dose are the ones which are not there but the second dose is there because when we receive 50 000 doses, we only take 25 000 people and keep the 25 000 vaccines for their second dose,” he said.
Which begs the question why foreigners were being allowed to get vaccinated before Zimbabweans? Government claims the whole immunisation drive is geared at achieving national herd immunity.
So why is Zimbabwe assisting other countries to achieve herd immunity, instead of concentrating on its own citizens?????