The vaccines that Zimbabwe used for Covid-19 are safe and no one is going to die as was predicted in the social media, Health Minister Douglas Mombeshora told the Senate yesterday.
Responding to a question from Chief Chikwaka on whether the vaccines had any side effects, Mombeshora said the vaccines that Zimbabwe used which were mostly from China had no side effects.
“The vaccines that we administered in this country do not have any side effects. Be rest assured that there are no side effects from the vaccines,” he said.
Zimbabwe used two vaccines from China- Sinovac and Sinopharm. It also used Sputnik V from Russia and Covaxin from India.
“The vaccines that we procured from China use the traditional methods like the vaccines that we have such as measles and tuberculosis of inculturation of the virus itself. We refused some of the vaccines that were used overseas like in the United States of America, because we did not know much about them and we cannot say much about them. We were not able to research anything on them, so we did not accept them. There was not much information with regards to their side effects,” Mombeshora said.
“The social media has been spreading fake news. We have seen on social media that in two years’ time, people who got vaccines will be dying, not in this country. That is not going to happen, be rest assured.”
Q & A
*HON. SEN. CHIEF CHIKWAKA: Thank you Mr. President. Allow me to direct my question to the Minister of Health. We faced problems with regards to COVID-19 in the past, and I would like to find out whether this pandemic will not come back considering the temperatures are going to change during this rainy season. The other issue is are there no side effects emanating from the vaccines because there are other ailments that are coming up and was suspecting it is because of the COVID vaccines and people are just wondering. I would like the Hon. Minister to assure us whether there are no side effects of the COVID vaccines. I thank you.
*THE MINISTER OF HEALTH AND CHILD CARE (HON. MOMBESHORA): Thank you Mr. President for giving me the opportunity to respond. Thank you Hon. Sen. Chief for that question. The COVID-19 pandemic did not only affect us as a country, but many other countries. There was no treatment for it, but efforts were made to come up with the vaccines. In this country, many people got vaccines and it led to the decrease of the pandemic. There were three vaccines where the first vaccine got a lot of uptake. The second vaccine was almost in between and the third vaccine had the lowest uptake. We cannot say the pandemic is over right now, it is still there here and there, although cases of ordinary flu are now higher than COVID-19 cases. We still encourage people to take vaccines. We are now taking measures to ensure that we make use of the available vaccines because in about seven months’ time, the vaccines may expire. We are encouraging people to take up those vaccines.
I understand the concerns from the Sen. Chief that there is a suspicion that some of the ailments may be emanating from the vaccines. The vaccines that we administered in this country do not have any side effects. Be rest assured that there are no side effects from the vaccines. The vaccines that we procured from China use the traditional methods like the vaccines that we have such as measles and tuberculosis of inculturation of the virus itself. We refused some of the vaccines that were used overseas like in the United States of America, because we did not know much about them and we cannot say much about them. We were not able to research anything on them, so we did not accept them. There was not much information with regards to their side effects. The social media has been spreading fake news. We have seen on social media that in two years’ time, people who got vaccines will be dying, not in this country. That is not going to happen, be rest assured.
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