Dar es Salaam, Tanzania — As nations worldwide are banking on COVID-19 vaccines to quash the deadly Coronavirus, Tanzania and Burundi have rejected the badly needed jabs, a move likely to derail efforts to fight the disease.
The World Health Organisation (WHO), which has started shipment of about 90 million COVID-19 vaccines to African countries including 320,000 jabs to Rwanda, Cape Verde, South Africa, and Tunisia, said this week it had excluded the two east African countries from its rollout plans.
No Plan For Vaccines
Earlier this week Tanzania insisted it had no plans to import COVID-19 after President Magufuli, who declared the country as COVID-free said the vaccine could be potentially dangerous.
Africa, which has seen a deadly resurgence of COVID-19 cases, recorded 3.6 million as of Monday, with 93,647 deaths.
While scientific modeling has shown an overall lower infection rate in Africa compared to Europe and the United States, experts warned that health systems could potentially become overwhelmed due to the on-going resurgence.
Herd Immunity
Health experts say to achieve herd immunity, about 60 percent of the continent’s population has to be immunized.
In Burundi, where more than 1,600 cases of Coronavirus had been recorded, officials said this week the country is counting on prevention measures since the majority of the COVID-19 patients are recovering.
“Since more than 95% of patients are recovering, we estimate that the vaccines are not yet necessary,” said Thaddee Ndikumana, Burundi’s Health Minister.
Testing Controversy
Tanzania recorded 509 cases of Coronavirus infections and 21 deaths, in May 2020 when authorities halted testing policy. The move came after President Magufuli cast doubt on the efficacy of the Chinese-made testing kits, which he claimed returned positive results on unlikely samples taken on a goat and pawpaw fruit.
President Magufuli’s decision to stop COVID-19 testing provoked widespread criticism among public health experts who have debunked wild conspiracy theories against COVID-19 vaccines with no scientific basis.
President Magufuli, who has largely abhorred social distancing measures including mask-wearing is strongly criticized for peddling wild conspiracy theories that contradict the global scientific consensus on the deadly disease.
Dorothy Gwajima, Tanzania’s minister of health said the east African country is not intending to import COVID-19 vaccines, including free doses it could get from the global Covax initiative which targets poor and middle-income nations.
“We are not satisfied that those vaccines have been clinically proven safe,” said Dr. Gwajima.
Tanzania government has shunned conventional medicines, it is instead promoting traditional remedies, such as steam inhalation to fight respiratory infections
“It’s better we continue to use traditional remedies that have been with us for generations,” she said.
Gwajima emphasized Magufuli’s stance against foreign vaccines while demonstrating how to make a drink using ginger, onion, pepper, and lemons which she claimed can help to obliterate the Coronavirus.
Despite facing strong opposition, WHO has urged the Tanzanian government to prepare for a vaccination campaign, encourage mask-wearing, and share information about Coronavirus infections.
“Vaccines work and I encourage the [Tanzanian] government to prepare for a COVID vaccination campaign,” said Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, the WHO’s Africa director.