Informal traders operating in Bulawayo’s central business centre (CBD) have called for more Covid-19 vaccination campaigns citing that a number of vendors are still not vaccinated as information and acceptance on Covid-19 vaccines has remained limited.
This came out during a Vendors Initiative for Social and Economic Transformation (VISET) community briefing meeting, Friday, to present the findings of a survey that was conducted on the availability of vending bays and market services.
Presenting the findings, VISET focal person, Prosper Masibi indicated that 57 percent of the respondents said they vaccinated through the vendors’ vaccination program while 43 percent did not get vaccinated during the Covid-19 program for vendors.
The survey also revealed that 32 percent of the respondents said they didn’t know about the vendors’ vaccination program while 21 percent said they didn’t have time.
Speaking during the meeting, Millian Mahla who operates from 6th avenue said the vaccine acceptance among vendors is still low.
“We are appealing for Covid-19 outreach programs to educate the vendors about the vaccination because we have noticed during conversations we have with our unvaccinated colleagues, people still need the information,” she said.
Mahla said education on Covid-19 among vendors is still limited.
“Education is still needed to educate vendors about the vaccines. The national Covid-19 campaigns are there but there is a need for the information to be cascaded to vendors and educate them more because acceptance is still low,” said Mahla.
In addition, Dorin Selimani who operates from 3rd avenue said there is a need to have more vaccination centres in the CBD to cater for the vendors.
“There are many vendors operating in the CBD. We acknowledge that there has been decentralisation of the vaccination centres to the private sector but these centres are considering their members first,” said Selimani.
In July, the government rolled out a Covid-19 vaccination drive in Bulawayo targeting 15 000 vendors.
