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THE fear and confusion surrounding the Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine donated by China and brought into the country this week reflects the failure by government to relay information to the citizens. Health practitioners, teachers and trade unionists have expressed fears over being used as guinea pigs to prove the efficacy of the vaccine amid reports that it had resulted in complications in some countries it has been rolled out. Among some of the concerns, the drug has not been approved by the World Health Organisation (WHO), but is still undergoing tests and the highest efficacy rate it has had is 75% compared to other drugs that are now in wide use, AstraZeneca, Modena, Pfizer, the Russian Sputnik 5 which have had higher efficacy rates. Suddenly, the Sinopharm drug received amid much pomp and fanfare, is now presenting more headaches for government than solutions to the COVID-19 pandemic that has wreaked havoc in the country, claiming more than 1 400 lives since March last year. Government can only blame itself for the dearth of information around the Chinese vaccine. Comments by the head of monitoring and evaluation in the Health and Child Care ministry, Robert Mudyiradima, which circulated widely on social media, to the effect that they still didn’t have full knowledge of the vaccine have worsened the uncertainty over its safety. A well-organised and detailed information campaign about the drug will go a long way in allaying fears over the safety of the vaccine. This should include the public vaccination of President Emmerson Mnangagwa and his two deputies Constantino Chiwenga and Kembo Mohadi. Government’s messaging deficit has long been its Achilles heel and could severely hamper its efforts to curb the pandemic. Its pathetic messaging and double standards have not only been limited to the Sinopharm vaccine. Doesn't it raise eyebrows that while government is preaching the need to limit movement of people and public gatherings, the ruling Zanu PF party continues to hold face-to-face meetings? The glaring double standards were also laid bare when First Lady Auxillia Mnangagwa ignored her husband’s order to avoid public gatherings by organising a cooking contest in Chinhoyi in blatant defiance of the national lockdown regulations. That this was held a day after government warned citizens to brace for more restrictions in light of the highly fatal and fast-spreading South African variant, not only exhibits absence of leadership, but is also an insult to the country’s citizens. With such deplorable messaging, the government can forget about successfully curbing the COVID-19 pandemic.
A November 26 letter from the presidency asked the head of Uganda's national drug authority to 'work out a mechanism' to clear the importation of the vaccines.
China has about five COVID-19 vaccine candidates at different levels of trials. It was not clear what vaccine was being imported into Uganda.
One of the frontrunners is the Sinopharm vaccine developed by the Beijing Institute of Biological Product, a unit of Sinopharm’s China National Biotec Group (CNBG).
On Wednesday, the United Arab Emirates said the vaccine has 86% efficacy, citing an interim analysis of late-stage clinical trials.
China has used the drug to vaccinate up to a million people under its emergency use program.
On Tuesday, Morocco said it was ordering up to 10 million doses of the vaccine.
Record cases
Uganda on Monday registered 701 new COVID-19 cases, the highest-ever daily increase, bringing its national count to 23,200.
The new cases were out of the 5,578 samples tested for the novel coronavirus over the past 24 hours, the country's health ministry said in a statement.
Tuesday's tally was 606, the second-highest ever number of new infections, bringing the cumulative number of confirmed cases in the east African country to 23,860.
Health authorities have blamed ongoing election campaigns which have drawn huge crowds for the rise in infections.
Deadlock in Westmoreland Eastern after official count The official count of votes in Westmoreland Eastern has ended in a tie, it was revealed yesterday. The Jamaica Labour Party’s candidate, Daniel Lawrence, and the People’s National Party...
[This Day] The World Health Organisation (WHO) has advised Nigeria not to go to sleep on the fact that poliomyelitis has been finally eradicated.
Community Leaders will hold a press conference on Dec. 10 at 11am, regarding President Donald Trump’s planned execution set for the same day, which is ironically International Human Rights Day. Following the press conference, the group will demonstrate at the Leland Federal Building. The Texas Death Penalty Abolition Movement will host the press conference at […]
The post Houston group protests Trump's first of 5 planned executions appeared first on DefenderNetwork.com.
On Wednesday (August 12), the City Girls appeared on The Breakfast Club morning radio show to discuss their latest album, City On Lock, and the journey through the music industry where they spoke on some of the biases they’ve encountered.
Zimbabwe will begin vaccinating against Covid-19 on Thursday, starting with health workers and other essential service personnel, the cabinet announced on Tuesday.
Described as an onset of high blood pressure during pregnancy, the exact reason for the prevalence of preeclampsia in Uganda is unknown due to the fact that detailed clinical records of all births are lacking.
Also responsible for cases of miscarriage and low birth weight, the condition usually begins after the fifth month of pregnancy in women whose blood pressure had been normal, according to experts.
Dr Ononge said preeclampsia is basically managed in hospital where the blood pressure is controlled.
According to Dr Richard Idro, preeclampsia raises the blood pressure and it starts damaging the kidney and so protein starts leaking into the urine.
\"If the blood pressure rises too high it starts affecting the blood vessels in the brain and the mother can die,\" Dr Idro said.
Other countries scheduled to hold elections are Egypt, Guinea, Seychelles and Tanzania.
For countries that do hold elections, there may be special voting arrangements that can allow polls to go ahead but reduce the risk of spreading the virus.
In South Korea's elections in mid-April, the electoral commission encouraged people to vote before election day at any of the 3,500 polling stations throughout the country.
This not only decongested polling stations on election day but contributed to the highest turnout in the country for nearly 30 years.
This means that countries planning to hold elections in 2020 or early-2021 need to start discussing these arrangements - across party lines and among multiple relevant agencies - as soon as possible.
A leading US Intelligence advisor has taken a firm stance on the origins of COVID-19, insisting that the virus came from a biological weapons lab in Wuhan.
