DODOMA, Tanzania (AP) – The Tanzanian Ministry of Health says it has no plans to accept COVID-19 vaccines just days after the country’s president of 60 million people expressed doubts about the vaccines without providing evidence .
Health Minister Dorothy Gwajima told a news conference in the capital Dodoma on Monday that “the ministry has no plans to receive vaccines against COVID-19.” All vaccines must receive approval from the ministry. It’s not clear when vaccines will arrive, although Tanzania is a candidate for COVAX’s global effort to deliver doses to low- and middle-income countries.
The Minister of Health insisted that Tanzania is safe. During a presentation where she and others were not wearing face masks, she encouraged the audience to improve hygiene practices, including the use of disinfectants as well as the inhalation of steam – which has been dismissed by health experts elsewhere as a way to kill the coronavirus.
Government chemist Fidelice Mafumiko also suggested using herbal medicine to cure COVID-19, without providing any evidence.
The Tanzanian government has been criticized for its response to the pandemic. As of April, it hasn’t updated its coronavirus infection count – 509.
The World Health Organization Africa chief last week urged Tanzania to share his data on infections, while the director of the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that “if we don’t fight this as a collective on the continent, we will be doomed. “
President John Magufuli, who has long claimed that God eliminated COVID-19 in Tanzania, claimed last week that vaccines are “inappropriate” for it, even as the first major vaccine deliveries begin to arrive on the African continent.
But authorities in Tanzania, from the Catholic Church to government agencies, back down and tell the public and employees that COVID-19 exists in the country and precautions should be taken.
While it is difficult to measure the level of virus infections in Tanzania, opposition party ACT Wazalendo announced this week that party leader Seif Sharif Hamad, vice president of the semi-autonomous island region of Zanzibar, was being treated for COVID-19.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in their latest travel warning about Tanzania that the level of COVID-19 in the country is “very high.” It did not provide details but insisted not to travel to the East African nation.
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