BY MAVIS N PODOKOLO
With government facing a failing plan to have 80 percent of the population vaccinated, Opposition is suggesting a change in approach.
Opposition leader, Matthew Wale, in parliament earlier this week, proposed government coming up with incentives for people who take the jab.
Wale explains that the vaccination campaign is running against time and chance, and this is not being helped when a huge number of the eligible population are reluctant to take the jab.
Wale in his debate speech on the special Adjournment Motion said the vaccination rollout in the country is long overdue.
“With this, some planning is needed to ensure that a mass rollout is on the basis of vaccines that are already in the country of reasonable expiry age, under proper cold storage, in appropriate locations close to population centres.
“I would encourage the government to consider incentivizing the jabs, to raise the uptake.
“We have had ample time to observe vaccination roll-outs in other countries to learn what we can be done here. The low uptake here quires a new creative approach.
“Government is aiming for 80 percent vaccination coverage in its vaccination programme to achieve herd immunity and it cannot be achieved with only 18 years old and above. The demographic is such that this is not possible.
“I therefore call on the government to clearly outline how it aims to achieve 80percent vaccination coverage. This is a matter of some importance and cannot be blindly assumed, as seems to the case here,” he said.
