Tanzania and Burundi reject the Covid-19 vaccines
Tanzania and Burundi have proclaimed
not intending to use any Covid-19 vaccine after the World Health Organization
(WHO) announced plans for the vaccine arrival on the continent.
The WHO announced on Thursday,
the COVAX (COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access) plans to start shipping about 90
million COVID-19 vaccine doses to Africa in February.
But earlier this week,
Tanzania emphasized on not having plans to accept COVID-19 vaccines.
Above all, The president John
Magufuli claimed that COVID-19 has been defeated in his country, adding it was
God's help.
Dr. Josephat Gwajima the founder and Senior Pastor of Glory of Christ
Tanzania Church
stated, “We are not yet satisfied that
those vaccines have been clinically proven safe"
Ironically,
John Magufuli had rejected primary measures such as lockdown and
social-distancing, instead he urged the country’s 60 million citizens to pray
in churches and mosques against this "satanic" virus".
More again, in May, when 509 Covid-19 infections and 21 deaths were
confirmed in Tanzania, the government stopped reporting cases to the World
Health Organization, after Mr. Magufuli claimed that Tanzania had conquered the
pandemic and that test kits showing positive results were inaccurate.
On the other hand, The health
Minister of Burundi stated " since more than 95% of patients are
recovering, we estimate the vaccines are not yet necessary".
However, the country has
registered more than 1,600 confirmed corona virus cases, highlighting that the
previous government under the late President Pierre Nkurunziza had also been
criticized for not taking the pandemic seriously.
Last month, the former
president of Burundi, Evaristr Ndayishimye claimed in a meeting in the political
capital, Gitega, that " we are seeing new cases of COVID-19 because God is
punishing us" referring in to the lack of honesty in respecting vows to
serve the country without corruption.
To that end, the Africa
Centers for Disease control and Prevention predicted 60% vaccination needed to
achieve herd immunity in all 54 countries of the African continent.
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