By Lerato Ndlovu
Chinhoyi Municipality has introduced a mass vaccination drive to curb the spread of Covid-19 in Mashonaland West province.
This comes after Mashonaland West received 20 000 vaccine doses from government.
In a statement, Chinhoyi council said vaccination would begin on the 4th of July at different health and shopping centres.
“There will be mass vaccination in Mashonaland west beginning on the 4th of July, all residents and stakeholders are encouraged to get vaccinated so that we fight against the effects of Covid-19.”
In Chinhoyi the vaccination centres are Chinhoyi Provincial Hospital, all council clinics ( Chinhoyi, Alaska, Chikonohono, Shackleton), Mzari Polyclinic, and shopping centres will be also used for this programme.
Speaking during a tour in the Makonde and Hurungwe area, Ministry of Health and Child Care Deputy Minister, Dr Mangwiro said there are more vaccines in the central storage and government would meet the demand for vaccination shots.
“Mash West has been ravaged by Covid-19 and I am sure most of the cases are from the delta pipe, across the border.
“We have however distributed 20 000 vaccines in Mash west according to capacity from the 500 000 we received, and we are waiting to receive more.
“If the distributed vaccines get finished, and there are still numbers to be vaccinated, we still have more in the central storage, the centres can acquit for the ones they received then get more.
“As a ministry we encourage all Zimbabweans to get vaccinated, this drive is not only for Mash west but the whole country.”
Areas classified as Covid-19 hotspot areas include Kariba, Karoi and Chinhoyi in Mashonaland West, Centenary in Mashonaland Central, Marondera and Mutoko in Mashonaland East, Chiredzi and Gutu in Masvingo province, Northern Suburbs, Nkulumane and Emakhandeni in Bulawayo, Kwekwe in Midlands and Harare.
As at July 5, the country had recorded 56 014 Covid-19 cases, and 1 911 deaths with active cases rising to 12 697.
The country is expected to receive 2 million doses on Thursday and 1.5 million at the end of the month.
