While many governments are undertaking ambitious campaigns to persuade people to be vaccinated against Covid, the President of Zimbabwe has gone a step further and threatened to punish those who do not take the doses.
“You are not being forced to be vaccinated, but the time will come when those who are not vaccinated will get jobs,” President Emmerson Mnangagwa said on Wednesday.
Even something as simple as taking a local bus is forbidden to those who are not vaccinated, he said.
The threats come even as the country of 15 million struggles to get doses for people who want to be vaccinated.
Zimbabwe has received a donation of 200,000 doses from Chinese vaccine manufacturer Sinopharm, and a further 600,000 doses are expected to arrive in the country in early March. In addition, the country will receive more than 1.1 million doses as part of the Covax program, which distributes vaccines to poor and middle-income countries in an effort to address global inequalities.
Zimbabwe’s leading health workers are the first in line for vaccination, but when the campaign began in recent days, some resisted the vaccine – they were particularly skeptical about the doses from China.
“I personally would not accept being vaccinated,” said Linet Sithole, a nurse in Harare, Zimbabwean capital. “It’s my choice.”
She said she was concerned about the lack of information about the Chinese vaccine and possible side effects.
Addressing the supporters in Matabeleland province, Mnangagwa called such concerns unfounded and noted that “he is still here after the country’s vice president had his first blow.”
The president, who has yet to be vaccinated himself, is holding back from making vaccinations compulsory.
Nevertheless, some observers criticize his threats as autocratic and unwise – and threaten to further undermine confidence in vaccines that have been shown to be safe and effective in preventing serious illness and death.
Rashweat Mukundu, a researcher at International Media Support, a group set up to unravel false information in the media across Africa, said Mnangagwa’s message would reinforce fears that the Zimbabwean government was arming Covid-19 and did not consider it a public. health problem. ”
“For me, the message about compulsory vaccination fits the trend we have seen, which is Covid-19 as a political tool for control,” he said. “Vaccination is important, but it should be because of public awareness and trust, not threats.”
“We have groups in Zimbabwe who, for cultural, religious reasons, do not opt for vaccination, and their rights must be respected,” he added.
But Tafadzwa Mugwadi, the director of information for the ruling Zimbabwe African National Union Patriotic Front, said it was about national security.
“Let it be categorical that those who deny the vaccination will be a risk to others and national security,” he said.
Although official statistics on the virus are not considered to be the true extent of the pandemic, Zimbabwe has recorded more than 1,400 deaths since the outbreak of the disease.