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Kenya has imposed a holiday season COVID-19 vaccine mandate: why it’s premature

Kenya has imposed a holiday season COVID-19 vaccine mandate: why it’s premature

KENYA is to impose restrictions on access to public spaces for those who have not been vaccinated against COVID-19 from December 21. This, along with the opening up of COVID-19 vaccination to young people over 15, is an attempt by the government to meet its national target of 10 million vaccinated before the new year. Catherine Kyobutungi weighs in on the pros and cons of Kenya’s vaccination strategy. Author CATHERINE KYOBUTUNGI, Executive Director, African Population and Health Research Center Is Kenya’s decision on mandatory vaccinations the right move? Vaccination mandates are premature in my view. The country has struggled for…
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Compulsory COVID-19 vaccination in Nigeria? Why it’s illegal, and a bad idea

Compulsory COVID-19 vaccination in Nigeria? Why it’s illegal, and a bad idea

TWO states in Nigeria – Edo and Ondo – recently announced compulsory COVID-19 vaccinations for adults. Even after a court restrained the Edo State government from going ahead, it insists the order stands. The Federal Government is also considering making COVID-19 vaccination compulsory for civil servants. Abiodun Odusote weighs in on the legality of these orders. ABIODUN ODUSOTE, Senior Lecturer, University of Lagos Do state governments have the legal authority to compel vaccination of adults? At the moment, mandatory COVID-19 vaccination in Nigeria is illegal. I am not aware of any legislation or regulation that mandates Nigerians to take vaccines.…
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Get vaccine or quit, Zim tells workers

Get vaccine or quit, Zim tells workers

GOVERNMENT workers in Zimbabwe who do not want to be vaccinated against COVID-19 should resign, its justice minister has said. The southern African nation has so far vaccinated 2.7 million people, against a target of inoculating two-thirds of its 15 million population by the end of the year. President Emmerson Mnangagwa's government says it has paid for 12 million COVID-19 doses from China. Ziyambi Ziyambi said while Zimbabweans would not be forced to get vaccinated, those in the public service had a responsibility to protect the public by getting COVID-19 shots. "We are not forcing you to be vaccinated but…
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Zimbabwe orders COVID-19 vaccination for all civil servants

Zimbabwe orders COVID-19 vaccination for all civil servants

ZIMBABWE’S government has ordered that all its workers should receive a COVID-19 vaccine and only 10% of civil servants report for duty, with the rest working from home in a bid to curb the spread of the pandemic. The head of the public commission, Jonathan Wutawunashe, said in a circular to government departments that all civil servants - about 250,000 - were considered frontline workers who should get COVID-19 shots. More than 1.1 million people have received a first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. Zimbabwe has recorded 85,732 infections, a quarter of them since the end of June and 2,697…
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South Africans battle to bridge digital divide

South Africans battle to bridge digital divide

KIM HARRISBERG WHEN Esther Dhlamini went to collect her pension in Johannesburg's Soweto township, she was surprised to find a local bishop on hand to soothe her fears about COVID-19 vaccination and register her for the jab on his mobile phone. Community "foot soldiers" like the bishop are among numerous initiatives being scrambled across South Africa to tackle a digital divide that threatens to hit vaccine take-up among people without internet access - including many pensioners. "I was afraid to get vaccinated and didn't know how to," said Dhlamini, 71, outside the Boxer supermarket where she goes each month to…
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France starts giving COVID jab to 12-year-olds

France starts giving COVID jab to 12-year-olds

LEA GUEDJ PERCEVAL Gete, a 12-year-old French boy, is one of the youngest people in Europe to receive a COVID-19 vaccination, and to accommodate his young age, the nurse administering the jab had to use a special child-size needle. His mother brought Perceval to a vaccination centre near Paris on Tuesday, the first day the age of eligibility in France was lowered to 12, because, she said, the more people get inoculated, the sooner pandemic restrictions can be lifted. "I wanted it to be done as soon as possible," his mother, Melanie Gete, said at the vaccination centre in the…
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9 in 10 countries to miss vaccination goal

9 in 10 countries to miss vaccination goal

ABOUT  90% of African countries will miss a September target to vaccinate at least 10% of their populations against COVID-19 as a third wave of the pandemic looms on the continent, a World Health Organisation (WHO) official said yesterday. Matshidiso Moeti, WHO regional director for Africa, said the continent required an extra 225 million doses to be able to vaccinate a tenth of its people by September this year. Africa has hit 5 million COVID-19 cases, with the southern Africa region the worst affected, accounting for 37% of total cases, according to a Reuters tally. South Africa is the worst…
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‘We are waiting to die’: Desperation after India halts vaccine exports

‘We are waiting to die’: Desperation after India halts vaccine exports

NITA BHALLA and BEH LIH YI WHEN John Omondi received his COVID-19 vaccination last month, the Kenyan taxi driver counted himself one of the lucky ones. Now, he's not so sure - victim of a vaccine export freeze by mega-producer India that has dashed hopes of protection for millions of poor people caught in the pandemic. "It was a good day when I got the vaccine. I needed it because of my age and my work," explained Omondi, 59, as he navigated the busy roads of the Kenyan capital, Nairobi. "I am supposed to get my second dose in June,…
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Vaccine hesitancy slows Africa’s COVID-19 inoculation drive

Vaccine hesitancy slows Africa’s COVID-19 inoculation drive

MAGGIE FICK WHEN Edith Serem received her COVID-19 vaccination last month at a hospital in Nairobi where she works as a doctor, nurses jokingly warned she might start speaking in a foreign language. Serem said some colleagues got the AstraZeneca shot after watching her closely for several days to see if she was okay, but others refused, still wary of possible side effects. Health experts worry that public scepticism about taking the relatively small number of doses African countries have battled to procure could prolong a pandemic that has already killed more than 3.3 million people worldwide. "I'm not an…
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Five vaccine stories from Kenya, London to Mumbai

Five vaccine stories from Kenya, London to Mumbai

DRAW the dose up into a syringe, expose the upper arm, administer the jab: it takes a few seconds to give someone a COVID-19 vaccination. But securing a dose in the first place, and getting in front of a nurse with a needle and a freezer full of vaccines, varies widely depending on where you live and what you do for a living. In Britain, a global frontrunner in the vaccination race, registering online for the jab has been no more complicated than booking a dentist appointment, while in India, where COVID-19 cases are surging, some people have roamed city hospitals…
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