By Trevor Makonyonga
Government’s mandatory vaccination policy has pushed some teachers to get fake vaccination certificates and secure their jobs as the 15 October deadline approaches.
ARTUZ president, Obert Masaraure said this was affecting effort by government to achieve herd immunity against Covid-19.
Masaraure said, “It is disturbing to note that there is no credible way of foolproofing against fake vaccination certificates. Some teachers who are hesitant to get the jab are now getting fake certificates thus undermining efforts to get to herd immunity. This can also be stopped by mass education on vaccination safety and efficacy not threats.”
Masaraure also lashed out at SI 234 of 2021 which he insinuated was not well thought and further indicated that his union is against mandatory vaccination.
“ARTUZ applauds the government of Zimbabwe for a successful vaccination program which saw the country reaching the World Health Organisation, WHO target of vaccinating more than 10% of its population by September 2021. ARTUZ however noted with disgust the promulgation of Statutory Instrument 234 of 2021, which seeks to coerce civil servants to get vaccinated or lose their jobs. ARTUZ has been on the fore front encouraging teachers to get vaccinated as a way of containing the deadly COVID19 pandemic, however the Union is completely against mandatory vaccination. Mandatory vaccination violates employee’s freedom of choice and right to dignity. The policy further disregards the existence of underlying medical conditions which bar some employees from being vaccinated.”
He pointed out that this vaccination policy could possibly further affect the already understaffed education sector.
“The Union notes that the nation is in a wave of brain drain as most skilled and experienced teachers are leaving for greener pastures. There is an acute teacher shortage in schools at a time when teachers are supposed to be championing education recovery. The few underpaid teachers in our schools are demoralized and overwhelmed with work. The mandatory vaccination program might push some of the remaining few teachers out of the workplace negatively impacting on access to quality education.”
The ARTUZ president pleaded with the Government to scrap the 15 of October mandatory vaccination deadline for Civil servants and to embark on a mass education campaign on vaccination to mitigate against vaccination hesitancy as his Union is also contributing towards the same.
He also said that the government must abandon the command approach towards vaccination and to respect teachers’ right to choose, hold opinions, right to dignity and ensure that workplace is safe for all.
He called for government to also ensure that the vaccines are readily available and conveniently accessible for them convene a dialogue with Unions to plan on ways of increasing vaccine uptake.
