Watch: Nyusi urges Mozambicans to join Covid-19 mass vaccination campaign – AIM

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Watch: Nyusi urges Mozambicans to join Covid-19 mass vaccination campaign – AIM

4:18 CAT | 04 Aug 2021

Photo: TVM

Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi on Wednesday urged all eligible adult Mozambicans to join the National Mass Vaccination Campaign against Covid-19, intended to reduce greatly the number of serious cases of the disease, and of the hospitalisations and deaths caused by the pandemic.

Nyusi made the appeal in Maputo at the official launch ceremony of the mass vaccination drive, designed to target over 1.5 million people across the country, under the national vaccination plan which the government hopes will reach 17 million people by the end of the year.

“Let us vaccinate because the vaccines have cost sacrifices such as the collective efforts to save lives in Mozambique. We would like to urge all those eligible to go to the vaccination posts, in accordance with the schedule drawn up by the Ministry of Health,” Nyusi said.

Read: Mozambique raises concerns over Covid jabs’ expiry

In July, Nyusi pointed out, as Mozambique entered the third wave of the pandemic, the country notified 45,806 cases of Covid-19, a number that was far higher than the record of the peak of the second wave between January and February. There were also 556 deaths caused by the pandemic in July, which was almost 40 per cent of all Covid-19 deaths since the start of the pandemic.

The numbers, said Nyusi, show the severity of the third wave which has killed artists, sportspeople, workers, doctors, teachers, businessmen and others.

The President noted that so far, in the initial stages of vaccination that began in February, only 400,000 Mozambicans have been fully immunised which is about 2.4 per cent of the eligible population. Among those patients fighting for their lives in hospital beds, there are not many who have been vaccinated.

As more vaccines are being delivered, Nyusi said, Mozambique can adopt a vaccination strategy which will fast-track the immunisation of several groups across the country, attaching top priority to people over 50 years old, as the most vulnerable to severe cases of the disease. “The vaccination drive will also reach public servants, war veterans, and teachers who were not targeted in earlier phases of the vaccination”, he added

The priority groups, Nyusi added, were decided according to the recommendations given by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and, as more vaccines are delivered, other age groups across the country will be reached.

The current mass vaccination drive will be different from the previous phases, as it will be conducted out only in health centres but in places such as football fields and school pavilions.

The swift success of the mass vaccination drive, Nyusi added, will enable the safe lifting of restrictive measures thus allowing the reopening of the country’s economy.

He urged the health authorities to ensure an orderly and well organised mass vaccination drive and warned against corruption. “We do not want to hear that the vaccines are on sale or are being used to immunise ineligible people”, Nyusi declared. “The Government intends to ensure that everyone is vaccinated.”

If any corruption occurs, he threatened he hold accountable everyone involved in the unjust schemes, because the vaccines have cost the efforts of Mozambique’s cooperation partners as well as the public treasury.

Read: Mozambique: Further Covid-19 restrictions would hamper development – President

Nyusi urged citizens to pay no attention to disinformation against vaccination. He pointed out that vaccines are among the safest and most effective ways of combating infectious diseases. Furthermore, there is nothing new about vaccination in Mozambique: Nyusi noted that for decades Mozambicans have been vaccinated against tuberculosis, polio, measles, tetanus, whooping cough and other potentially lethal diseases.

“We should not depend on noises and rumours”, urged the President. Falsehoods that led people astray were criminal, “and we must take this question seriously. It is the task of all of us not just to take the vaccine, but also to fight disinformation about vaccines”,

The country representative of the World Health Organisation (WHO), Tomaz Valdez, told the ceremony that the COVAX global initiative, led by WHO, is mobilising vaccines for low and middle income countries who are facing difficulties in obtaining vaccines. He denounced the current international vaccine distribution system as iniquitous.

Valdez said that COVAX hopes to provide 20 per cent of Mozambique’s vaccine needs – which amounts to 2.064 million doses, 38 per cent of which have already been delivered to the Mozambican government.

“The vaccines against Covid-19 save lives!”, Valdez declared. “They protect people against serious illness, and reduce the number of deaths. The support of the population for mass vaccination is fundamental for controlling and defeating Covid-19”.

Source: AIM / TVM