Africa-Press – Tanzania. ELDERS in Mbulu District have challenged the government to engage clan leaders in an ongoing vaccination campaign against Covid-19. The elders attributed the low drive of COVID 19 vaccination among the Iraqw communities to failure to engage clan leaders in the area.
According to Patrick Fisoo, the clan leaders had enormous influence in the district, and that it was imperative to bring them on board as the country strives to ensure that a great deal of Tanzanians receive their jabs against the deadly virus. “Vaccine hesitancy is so evident among the Iraqw, however this can only be addressed if the clan leaders get engaged,” suggested Mr Fisoo.
Despite the misconceptions among Mbulu communities about the vaccine, with some saying that the vaccine causes sickness, clan leaders have an instrumental role to play in changing such narratives, he said. “The leaders to start with, need to be sensitized on the benefits of the jabs so that they convey such health advantages to their communities,” added Mr Fisoo.
On his part, the district COVID 19 vaccination coordinator Edward Misana admitted that it was still a challenge convincing the Iraqw, owing to the misconceptions they had on the vaccine. Mr Misana underscored the importance of being vaccinated, describing it as the most critical tool to end the pandemic and to save lives and livelihoods.
“Being vaccinated does not mean that we can throw caution to the wind and put ourselves and others at risk, particularly because research is still ongoing into how much vaccines protect not only against disease but also against infection and transmission,” he said. Last week, the Health ministry warned over a surge in COVID-19 cases as the country heads to the festivities.
“People should continue observing precautionary measures against COVID-19 as statistics show a surge in the pandemic,” said Dorothy Gwajima, the Minister for Health, Community Development, Gender, Elderly and Children. The Minister who was speaking at the launch of the second phase fast track and participatory COVID-19 vaccination campaign in the northern tourist city of Arusha said those targets to inoculate between 80,000 and 100,000 people daily countrywide.
According to the Minister, about 47 samples of suspected cases of COVID-19 were currently being tested daily in the country’s national central health laboratories compared to 14 samples that were tested daily in the recent past
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