BULAWAYO City Council (BCC) is set to conduct a second round of polio vaccinations early next month after an outbreak of the disease in neighbouring Mozambique.
This was revealed last week during the handing over of vaccines, camping equipment and personal protective equipment from non-governmental organisation (NGO) Africa Ahead in the city.
Addressing delegates, Bulawayo deputy mayor Mlandu Ncube said the equipment would also help in conducting polio programmes.
“The City of Bulawayo continues its COVID-19 response and vaccinations in our drive to achieve herd immunity. In the next few weeks, we will be co-ordinating the second round of polio vaccinations from December 1 to 4. The equipment will assist our teams as they carry out this exercise and many other programmes,” Ncube said.
Ncube said the local authority was in partnership with Africa Ahead in implementing the COVID-19 vaccination project supported by Action Contre Lafaime with funding from Echo Africa Ahead. The partnership now has three projects running concurrently in the city to assist the government in dealing with COVID-19 emergencies.
“The partnership has been key in assisting with resources to attend to pandemics,” Ncube said.
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Africa Ahead deputy director Siphiwe Mpofu said they wanted to increase vaccination uptake and help the country reach herd immunity.
“We are here to support COVID-19 vaccine uptake through community engagement and communication in Zimbabwe. We were so advantaged in Bulawayo because out of the three provinces that were selected (Bulawayo) was one of them,” Mpofu said.
“The goal of the project was to save lives from the pandemic and we supported it through awareness creation. We would go around and address disabled people and the vulnerable people so that we increase vaccine uptake.”