by Staff Reporter

Since the roll out of the COVID-19 vaccination exercise, positive comments and testimonies have flooded social media as people voluntarily and happily take their free of charge doses of the Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine.

Zimbabwe rolled out its COVID-19 vaccine programme last Thursday, with health workers getting the first of the 200 000 Sinopharm vaccines donated by China.

Dr Grant Marewanhema yesterday shared his photos on his Twitter handle after vaccination captioned, “Excited that together with a number of my colleagues we received our doses of Sinopharm SARS-COV-2 vaccines today. We are hopeful that this will spread across the country as we continue to fight COVID-19.”

Norman Matara posted that, “Mass vaccination is our only hope of returning to normalcy. Vaccines have been proven to be safe and effective, and have helped in eradicating pandemics since time immemorial. I am happy to receive my Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine today.”

Lenon Gwaunza tweeted, “Got my first dose of the Sinopharm. No anaphylaxis and no pain at injection site. Painless. Waiting for next dose.”

Farai Mwakutya posted that, “I have just been at Parirenyatwa Hospital, seen dozens of Doctors and Specialists getting the Sinopharm vaccine. If that isn’t enough to give confidence to those who are questioning it, I don’t know what it is.”

The country’s free and voluntary vaccination program aims to reach 10 million citizens and achieve herd immunity.

Health and Child Care Minister, Vice President Costantino Chiwenga who has already received his vaccine said that the country was winning the war against the deadly pandemic.

As at 22 February 2021, the country had recorded 35 862 confirmed cases including 32 216 recoveries and 1 441 deaths.

Meanwhile, though most people in the country continue to use traditional medicines, which have proven to play an important role in meeting basic health care needs of local communities, the populace is being encouraged to get vaccinated when the programme reach their areas.