Staff Reporter
Artisanal miners from Uzumba Maramba Pfungwe (UMP) District, Mashonaland East Province have applauded the Ministry of Health and Child Care for availing mobile vaccination sites, which they said have reduced their travelling costs and time to access the jabs.
As part of efforts to ensure that everyone benefits from the Covid-19 vaccination programme, the Health and Child Care Ministry is availing mobile vaccine sites to the nomadic artisanal miners who are dotted in mountains and along rivers in the District in search of gold.
Artisanal miners who spoke to this publication yesterday said they appreciated the exercise, saying it saved them from travelling long distances to the nearest health service centre to access the vaccines.
“We really appreciate the good work that our Government through our health personnel is doing in this fight against Covid-19, especially recognising our existence here in the bush. We were finding it difficult to leave our job and travel more than 30km to Mutawatawa Business Centre to get vaccinated, so we really appreciate the nurses coming here to vaccinate us,” said Tendai Chipere, one of the artisanal miners.
One of the health personnel who was among the team, who spoke on condition of anonymity said many of the artisanal miners who came to the hills and mountains in the area in search of the yellow metal were missing out on important health care services which include Covid-19 vaccination, hence the Ministry of Health and Child Care decided to to track them down.
“We are navigating the difficult terrain of this District, searching for the makeshift camps of the artisanal miners and vendors who are looking for gold and we are happy that the people here are cooperating and have since embraced the vaccination programme.
“These people are nomadic by nurture and because they cannot come to us, we then decided to go to them so that they also get protected from the virus,” he said.
To date a total of 2 949 025 people have been vaccinated against Covid-19 countrywide.
Meanwhile as at 19 September 2021, Zimbabwe had 127 938 confirmed cases, which include 120 946 recoveries, and 4 567 deaths. National recovery rate stands at 95 percent while active cases are at 2425.
