The ManicaPost
Tendai Gukutikwa
Health Reporter
THE Ministry of Health and Child Care will next week launch the second round of polio vaccination with special emphasis on communities dominated by objectors and high vaccine hesitancy.
The blitz runs from March 19 to 22.
Despite special emphasis on missed children, the blitz is targeted at those from zero to 10 years.
During the first vaccination blitz in February, Buhera and Chimanimani districts had the highest number of vaccine objectors as less than 95 percent of their targets were vaccinated.
Makoni was the best performing district in the province attaining 104 percent of its set target, followed by Mutare with 101 percent, Nyanga 98,7 percent, Mutasa and Chipinge districts with 96 percent apiece.
Manicaland vaccinated a total of 604 498 children out of 614 281, which translates to 98,4 percent coverage.
Manicaland provincial health promotions officer, Mrs Agnes Mugumbate said the targeted effort is aimed at addressing concerns and increase acceptance of vaccination within the communities.
“Buhera recorded below the targeted percentage during the last vaccination in February, but we have noted an increase of objectors demanding vaccination services following engagements through the traditional leadership.
“We will identify missed children and vaccinate them first. We have also identified some mothers from vaccine hesitant societies who want to have their children vaccinated, but they fear being found out by their colleagues. Most of the women are hesitant to come out in the open due to religious and cultural beliefs. We will offer them privacy if they come forward and keep raising awareness on the importance of vaccination within such communities,” she said.
Mrs Mugumbate said they will reach out to all objectors so that all children have access to vital vaccination services.
“During the first round of oral polio vaccination, we missed a number of children because of refusals aligned to religious and cultural beliefs, absenteeism at schools, failure to access hard-to-reach areas, as well as social events like sports in schools.
“We also found out that there is need to support hard-to-reach areas and come up with ideal strategies to deal with refusals. Some of the strategies to reach out for refusals and vaccine objectors is the engagement of local influencers as well as one-on-one discussions with caregivers,” she said.
