Mnangagwa thanks health personnel for vaccinating more than one million Zimbabweans

Zimbabwe President Emmerson Mnangagwa today thanked doctors, nurses and health officials for vaccinating more than one million Zimbabweans against coronavirus.

More than 53 000 Zimbabweans were vaccinated yesterday with 47 506 getting the first jab to bring the total of those who have so far been vaccinated once to 1 036 252.

A further 5 716 received their second dose raising the number of those now fully vaccinated to 630 610.

Zimbabwe is currently going through a devastating third wave which has seen 29 008 cases and 629 deaths this month. At this rate, July alone could account for more cases that all those infected in the first half of this year.

“One million Zimbabweans have now received their first COVID-19 jab!  Thank you to all the doctors, nurses and health officials who have made this possible. You are true Zimbabwean heroes,” the President tweeted.

There was mixed reaction to Mnangagwa’s tweet with some praising the government for “leading from the front” while others said there was nothing to be proud of as Mnangagwa’s administration had failed to create jobs.

Valentine Zinhumwe even asked: “Its leading who SA does 300k vaccines a day.”

While figures matter, it is the number of those vaccinated against the size of the population that matters most.

Botswana, for example, has vaccinated a third of the number Zimbabwe has vaccinated but it is faring better at 12% against Zimbabwe’s 11%. South Africa has vaccinated three times the number that Zimbabwe has vaccinated but is at 7.7%.

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