By Staff Reporter
Today marks 7 days since Bustop TV crew; comedienne, Samantha ‘Gonyeti’ Kureya, Sharon ‘Magi’ Chideu, Dereck ‘DRC’ Nziyakwi and co-founder/producer Lucky Aaron took their first jab of the Chinese Sinopharm Covid-19 vaccine.
The comedy crew got their vaccine shots last week Friday at Wilkins Infectious Disease Hospital in Harare.
The Bustop team followed the suit of the Minister of Health and Child Care, Constantino Chiwenga who volunteered to be the first citizen to take the Chinese vaccine at the same hospital last month.
Reports indicate that Chiwenga’s decision to publicly vaccinate at Wilkins, were accelerated by vaccine hesitancy as a result of a number of conspiracy theories that have dominated among individuals, globally.
China’s gesture to donate the first batch of 200.000 jabs of vaccine last month was criticized as a number of citizens already question most Chinese products.
Nevertheless, the top comedy outfit (Bustop TV) are unfazed by any conspiracy theories that are circulating on various social media platforms in particular, Whatsapp.
They braced themselves and took the vaccine and are set to take the second dose of the vaccine next month.
In an exclusive interview, jester Magi shared her experience before and after taking the vaccine jab.
“At first I was skeptic when l heard about this vaccine, considering that government was handing it for free and again it was from China. I began to have many doubts.
“Zimbabwean citizens already find fault in many Chinese products there are not regarded as genuine products, so at first it left me with no choice but to doubt the vaccine,” she said.
Chideu added that she researched about the authenticity of the vaccine on World Health Organization (WHO) website and seek for vigilance on the WHO approved Covid-19 vaccines.
Magi added that she ventured into more research about a number of approved Covid-19 vaccines. She said her zeal was to compare and contrast all the vaccines used globally, in order to get her mind decided whether to take the Chinese Sinopharm vaccine or not.
“I visited the WHO website, googled about the Sinopharm vaccine together with different other vaccines with an aim to get more knowledge about these vaccines including the Sinopharm vaccine that l took,” she told this reporter.
Furthermore, Chideu revealed what finally drove her to find no fault about the Chinese vaccine, for her to decide on taking the jab.
“I came to a decision on my own and told myself that l have googled enough let me get myself vaccinated. The other reason why l vaccinated is the desire to stay healthy.
“I also have colleagues and friends of my age who succumbed to this deadly virus, so l braced myself to take the vaccine, though my mother was very much worried,” Magie revealed.
The 2016 NAMA award winner urged citizens to vaccinate and forget about the misinformation and disinformation that has been circulated by people on social media.
She further urged citizens to verify information before taking their decision and encouraged politicians to avoid politicizing both the vaccine and the virus.
“Lets not peddle fake news please, verify information and those that have the political authority please avoid politicizing this vaccine,” the award winning actress said.
Magi finally disclosed that she hasn’t encountered any side effects so far, since taking the Covid-19 vaccine last week Friday.
“Im feeling well, my appetite is still normal. I only had a discomfort on my arm the first day I got vaccinated but I believe that is normally when one gets injected,” she said.
