Open AccessSARS-CoV-2 in Zimbabwe: milestones and challenges faced towards achieving the expected 60% herd immunity
Author(s) -
Vinie Kouamou,
Richard Matarise,
Elizabeth Dos Santos,
Nyasha Elose,
Justen Manasa
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
the pan african medical journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.287
H-Index - 30
ISSN - 1937-8688
DOI - 10.11604/pamj.2021.39.255.30331
Subject(s) - herd immunity , pandemic , covid-19 , vaccination , government (linguistics) , economic growth , political science , virology , medicine , business , economics , infectious disease (medical specialty) , linguistics , philosophy , disease , pathology , outbreak
In response to COVID-19 pandemic, the Zimbabwe government put in place various rigorous measures to curb the spread of the virus. Although roll-out and access to COVID-19 vaccines in Africa have been slow, the World Health Organization (WHO)-led COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access (COVAX) consortium and the African vaccine acquisition task team are striving to provide 720 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines to achieve 60% coverage in Africa by June, 2022. In line with this, the Zimbabwe vaccination programme commenced on the 26 th February 2021 and as of 9 th June 2021, approximately, 2.6% of the population have been fully vaccinated in the country. Although the COVID-19 pandemic has crippled the economy and caused significant strain on the public health system, much has been done in the country since the first case was recorded (20 th March 2020). However, much more needs to be done to finally reach the expected 60% herd immunity by June 2022.