The vaccination exercise is set to be extended to other Dioceses of Southern African nation where the Clergy and women and Men Religious “are still organizing how their members will be vaccinated against COVID-19 in due course,” ZCBC officials say.
Zimbabwe has recorded 36,778 cases of COVID-19 including 1,518 deaths and 34,555 recoveries.
In the March 17 letter inviting ZCBC members to take part in the vaccination program, Zimbabwe’s VP who doubles as the country’s Minister of Health says he is acting under President Emmersom Mnangagwa’s directive.
“(The) government is fully conscious of the important role which you play both personally and collectively as spiritual guardians of our God-fearing Nation,” VP Chiwenga says in his letter to the Catholic Bishops in Zimbabwe.
He further tells ZCBC members, “As regards your esteemed hierarchy, the Government will avail vaccination services at times and venues that are convenient to yourselves, as you may direct.”
He goes on to acknowledge the Catholic Church’s role in bringing health and education services to members of society saying these facilities “are far-flung, extending to remote communities which for so long were disadvantaged, marginalized, or even outrightly excluded.”
In the letter seen by ACI Africa, the Zimbabwean VP says that the government “continues to bring in more vaccines in the broad fight against the pandemic,” with the “urgent goal” of averting “any further loss of life.”
“Under this program, vaccines are made available to our people free of charge, with the ultimate goal to immunize more than 60% of the population in order to achieve herd immunity,” he says in the March 17 letter.
The Minister of Health noted that “Mission Hospitals and Church-run Clinics have a crucial role to play” in the COVID-19 vaccination program and urged the members of ZCBC to “not hesitate to proffer any suggestions that help make this crucial, life-saving exercise effective and widely accessible to our citizens.”
Zimbabwe kicked off the COVID-19 vaccination program on February 18, three days after receiving the first batch of 200,000 doses of the Sinopharm vaccine from China.
