Waziri wa Afya, Maendeleo ya Jamii, Jinsia, Wazee na Watoto wa Zanzibar Ahmed Mazrui amesema wameanza kutoa chanjo ya COVID-19 kwa wahudumu wa Afya wa hospitali za serikali, Uwanja wa Ndege wa Abeid Karume na Bandari ya Malindi.
Wamechukua hatua hiyo kwa kuwa nchi kadhaa za Afrika zimeonesha kuathiriwa na wimbi la tatu la COVID-19 na visiwa vya Zanzibar vinapokea idadi kubwa ya watalii hivyo wameona vyema kuwalinda watumishi dhidi ya maambukizi.
Waziri Mazrui amesema kuna hoteli za kitalii pia zimeanza kutoa chanjo kwa watumishi wake. Aidha amesema hakuna wagonjwa wa #COVID19 walioripotiwa kwa hospitali binafsi na za serikali.
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THE government of Zanzibar has started issuing Corona virus vaccination to health workers to prevent them from the risk of being infected by the third wave of the global pandemic.
The Zanzibar Minister for Health, Community Development, Gender, Elderly and Children,Nassor Ahmed Mazrui told reporters yesterday that the vaccination is now being issued to health workers from public hospitals and those working at the Abeid Amani Karume International Airport as well as the Malindi Port.
According to him, the third wave of Covid-19 has already been reported in some African countries,and Zanzibar has seen the importance of taking precautions and measures of protecting its officials.
“Zanzibar is among countries that are receiving a huge number of tourists from different parts of the world, therefore it is very important to take measures to protect our health care staff and those who will be attending to the visitors,” he said.
“Due to this, we have started to vaccinate our health workers in the public sector as part of efforts to fight the third wave of the Covid-19 in Zanzibar,” added the minister.
Mr Mazrui went on to explain that there are some hotel owners who have started to vaccinate their staff as part of preventing them from the virus, some of them are the ones who provide accommodation to the tourists coming to the island.
However, the health minister assured that there is no report on cases of Covid 19 in the isles from both public and private health facilities.
“Zanzibar is still safe, so far, there is no report on the presence of Covid-19 cases from any public and private hospitals,” he noted.
Addressing editors and journalists last month at State House in Dar es Salaam State House, President SamiaSuluhu Hassan said a special team of experts she formed to professionally evaluate the Covid-19 pandemic had completed the task and come up with recommendations.
The team submitted its first report but the same team was later tasked to come up with world outlook and how the situation is being approached worldwide, particularly on vaccination issues and the country’s ability to store the vaccines.
The President went on to reveal that the team of experts was given about a month to deliver on the task and it has already presented the report which was tabled in the cabinet.
“The process of vaccination in the country will be voluntary, individuals who wish to be vaccinated shall be vaccinated, and the same applies to those who don’t wish to be vaccinated… no one will be forced to get vaccination,” she insisted.
She hinted that majority of people from the business community have been vaccinated in different countries and they are going on with their usual businesses.
Besides, she said, the country’s experts in collaboration with the international community have been allowed to carry on with vaccination procedures.
Hii ndio serikali inayojali
Outlining the procedure for applying for the vaccines, she said developing countries were required to apply through the Covax facility, whereby the deadline for countries intending to procure vaccines in the coming year (2022) was June 15.
Countries that could not tender their application will have to wait until 2023.
President Samia said such a requirement pushed Tanzania to rush to file its application, while other issues of identifying the kind of vaccines would be addressed later.
Daily News