Government Frantically Attempts To Vaccinate More Than 0.5% Of Population

The Patriotic Front (PF) government are frantically attempting to vaccinate more than 0.5% of its population as 151,200 doses of Johnson and Johnson arrive in the country today.

Ministry of Health Permanent Secretary for Technical Services Dr Kennedy Malama has said that the vaccine consignment has come from the United States Government through the COVAX facility.

“For Zambia, vaccination for COVID-19 is voluntary but we urge members of the public to consider getting vaccinated as the vaccine induces immunity which reduces the chances of getting infected, but more importantly, getting the severe disease and dying from COVID-19,” Dr Malama commented.

The vaccine consignment comes as the PF government struggle to vaccinate even 1% of the population.

Poor management of vaccine distribution by the PF resulted in the country experiencing its most deadly wave of the virus over the last two months which, at its peak, saw over 70 individuals die each day from COVID-19.

Initially hoping to vaccinate just 20% of the population, over the last three months the PF have only managed to inoculate a mere 0.5%. Amnesty International have predicted that, if the government continue vaccinating its population at the same rate which it is doing so now, it will take 1,075 years for all Zambian citizens to be vaccinated.

Photo: Reuters