While the national COVID-19 vaccination programme continues to make progress, Namibia is still falling short of its projected target, with the country only managing to fully vaccinate 14 per cent of its eligible population.
This is according to Minister of Health and Social Services Dr Kalumbi Shangula, who was speaking during the 35th COVID-19 public briefing on Friday.
He said while Namibia’s target was to vaccinate 750 000 of the 1 501 041 persons targeted for vaccination by 13 October 2021, only 288 692 (translating to 19.2 per cent) persons had received their first dose of the vaccine by 12 October and 213 294 persons or 14.2 per cent were fully vaccinated.
“The uptake falls short of the projected targets, in terms of where we want to be,” Shangula said, further noting that Namibia is further behind than other Southern African countries.
“If we take the total population of Namibia and not only the vaccination eligible population as the denominator, 7.7 per cent of the population is fully vaccinated. Regionally, as at 13 October 2021, South Africa has fully vaccinated 16.51 per cent of its population, while Zimbabwe, Botswana and Zambia have vaccinated 16.3 per cent, 10.4 per cent, 1.6 per cent respectively.”
He said the slow uptake for vaccination triggered several interventions to move Namibia closer to achieving its targets and among these interventions is a collaborative initiative with MTC meant to increase vaccination uptake referred to as the “Namibia VaxUP081 Incentive”, which is yet to be rolled out.
The initiative will incentivise people who are getting their first vaccine dose.
The Ministry of Information and Communication Technology, in collaboration with the Ministry of Health and Social Services, is also implementing “roadshows” with the participation of local artists to mobilise the public to get vaccinated.
In addition, COVID-19 vaccination is now available at anti-retroviral clinics, workplaces, old age homes, social pension payout points, shopping malls and other places in addition to established vaccination sites.
“These strategies are yielding positive outcomes in terms of increased uptake for at risk populations.”
Source: The Namibian Press Agency
