UNICEF applauds Tanzania on Covid-19 inoculation 

THE United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Representative in Tanzania, Ms Shalini Bahuguna has hailed the country for achieving high Covid-19 vaccination coverage, as 99 per cent of its eligible population has been inoculated.

Such achievement places Tanzania among few African countries close to achieving the global Covid-19 vaccination milestones.

She, however, congratulated the government for its immediate response and partners’ coordination to public health emergencies, particularly to the recent Marburg Virus Disease (MVD) outbreak in Kagera, which has so far been contained.

Ms Bahuguna showered the praise at an event to handover cold chain equipment in support of the country’s immunisation and vaccines development programme held in Dar es Salaam, recently.

“The government has demonstrated its ability to fight the Covid-19 pandemic by fully vaccinating 99 per cent of eligible population which is equivalent to 53 per cent of total population by March 2023,” said Ms Bahuguna.

The UNICEF Country Representative attributed Tanzania’s success story to excellent political commitment and leadership from the very top and executed sovereignty by the Ministry of Health.

She indicated that the political vision and the executive leadership would be meaningless unless implementation on the ground is clearly reflected.

“The work done by Tanzania is exemplary…the way the government quickly acted after it had its technical committee in scaling up the Covid-19 vaccination is quite commendable,” noted Ms Bahuguna.

Based on the achievement, she observed that in the coming week there is a conference in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on lesson learning from Covid-19 vaccination which will help to foster system wide immunization strengthening.

She revealed that Tanzania was going to be used as a best practice and an excellent example of what can be done on scaling up vaccinations as it did  in Covid-19 particularly focused on the vulnerable group.

According to her, Covid-19 vaccination has proven to be the best option to protect people from the virus, noting that the number of new cases has declined globally including Tanzania.

Similarly, vaccination has been effective even to threats of new emerging variants like Omicron urging those who have not been vaccinated, to take the chance at any nearby facility and get the jab.

Japanese Ambassador to Tanzania, Mr Yashushi Misawa said last year Japan issued $30 million in grant aid to enhance Covid-19 in Latin America, Caribbean and Africa adding that Tanzania will receive $1.4 million in the programme.

Health Minister, Ms Ummy Mwalimu extended recognition to the government of Japan for its support in the fight against Covid-19, which includes providing vaccines through the COVAX arrangement making up a total dose of 39.4 million.

“Currently, there were no hospitalised cases but a very few positive cases due a large group of the eligible population have been vaccinated…People do not fall very ill and are not hospitalized due to the power of vaccines,” noted the Minister.

She observed a lot of misconception, adding that despite that, the bottom line was that the vaccination has helped save many lives.

“Tanzania has performed very well in its Covid-19 vaccination drive as 90 percent of its eligible population from the age of 18 years-old have been inoculated,” stated Ms Mwalimu stressing that Covid-19 vaccines will continue to be improvised like routine vaccines.

She maintained that all the vaccines offered in the country were safe.

For her part, the Chief Medical Officer (CMO) Prof Tumaini Nagu identified a study conducted which showed that a large group of people has been vaccinated, therefore creating immunity among the people even after contracting the virus.

Meanwhile HECKTON CHUWA writes that the Director of the Siha based Kibong’oto Infectious Disease Hospital (KIDH) in Kilimanjaro Region, Dr Leonard Subi said that preparedness in response to disasters including those of disease outbreaks, has led the government to prevent the effects that could arise after the Marburg disease occurred in the country recently.

“The success in containing the disease was due to experts observing all the rules related to the control of epidemic diseases in accordance with the World Health Organisation (WHO) procedures and regulations in dealing with issues concerning disease outbreaks,” he said.

Dr Subi disclosed that, the biggest step taken after the disease was reported in Kagera region was to send health experts and a mobile laboratory to the area immediately, adding that the results concerning the disease were detected early and controlled with immediate effects.

He urged people to join hands with the government in providing information when there are signs of unusual diseases in their respective areas.

“People also need to continue observing health guidelines such as washing hands regularly, avoiding shaking hands frequently and also continuing to use sanitizers when necessary”, he said.