Almost three weeks have elapsed since district health offices across the country started taking the Covid 19 doses to the people, yet some councils are struggling to motivate people to get the jabs.

For instance, Lilongwe District Environmental Health officer Paul Chunga revealed to Zodiak that they are planning to engage traditional leaders to assist them overcome the low uptake of vaccines.

“The numbers have decreased since the number of Covid – 19 cases have dropped. The numbers we are getting are not what we are expecting, they are dropping. So, we want to sit down and strategize on how we can reach and increase awareness on the uptake of the vaccine.

“We still have a low uptake of the virus in the rural areas as people hear different false stories about the vaccines or that if you don’t get vaccinated you will be chased out of the village.

“So, we want to engage community leaders and traditional authorities so we can find ways to raise awareness and encourage people to get vaccinated,” said Chunga.

On his part, Mzimba North DHO Public Relations officer Lovemore Kawaye is pleased that the mobile vaccination exercise is encouraging people to appreciate the importance of Covid 19 vaccination.

“The mobile vaccination exercise has really helped in increasing the numbers of people receiving their jab. I can reveal that since the mobile vaccination exercise over 30 000 people have received the jab. We have teams going door to door raising awareness and offering counselling to people on the vaccine. We have mobile vaccination sites and over the weekend we were vaccinating people in churches,” explained Kawaye. 

Taking her turn, Blantyre DHO spokesperson Chrissy Banda says it is encouraging that people have changed their attitude towards Johnson and Johnson, as they are now left with only 320 out 20, 900 doses.

“The mobile vaccination exercise has really been welcomed by people because now we are able to reach people even in markets. Before, people were going for the vaccine. Now, the vaccine is coming to them. I can also say there has been an increase in people wanting the J AND J vaccine because it is one jab but we have been encouraging them to accept whatever vaccine is available to them,” she said.  

Government is implementing mobile vaccination exercises to encourage more people to get vaccinated against the Covid–19 virus.