IN a move that is likely to boost vaccines uptake among Zimbabwean citizens, the Red Cross Clinic in Harare has opened up a vaccination site that is offering vaccination services free of charge.
By Michael Gwarisa
The center is situated at the Red Cross Clinic close to Copacabana Clinic in the capital and since the center opened its doors to the public, numbers between 150 and 250 are being vaccinated daily with indications on the ground showing that the numbers may triple in the not-so-distant future.
Briefing Journalists during press briefing that preceded a tour of their Clinic in Harare, Red Cross Society Clinic General Practitioner in Charge of the Red Cross Clinic, Dr Joel Tapi said the move was meant to complement government’s vaccination program as well help government meet its herd immunity targets.
In terms of our model, as a clinic we to ensure that we thrive to offer high quality medical care at a low cost. We tend to bridge the gap between the private and public sector. We are here to play our role in augmenting the efforts of the government. We have also embarked in offering vaccines to the general public for free, we are not changing any fee, we are just operating just like any other government institution.
“We are seeing quite a number of people who are turning up to receive their vaccines. We received between 150 to 250 daily that are coming into our vaccination site to receive their vaccines. This is really in line with government efforts to ensure that we fight this pandemic and ultimately reach the herd immunity that we intend as a nation and to ensure that Zimbabweans are protected so that we might also return to our normal activities,” said Dr Tapi.
The Red Cross Clinic vaccination site is at the moment administering only the Sinopharm and Sinovac vaccines and the site is open throughout the week.
“We are really instituting stringent measures to also ensure that social distancing is adhered to and sanitization is also offered at all entry points. The vaccination site is also not within the building, its outside the building where there is free air circulation. We are trying really to conform to the measures that have been put in place in setting up vaccination site.”
The Zimbabwe Red Cross Clinic belongs to the Zimbabwe Red Cross Society and the Zimbabwe Red Cross Society plays a humanitarian role in assisting the government. Dr Tapi added that their clinic, offers a variety of services which include gener- al practitioners, Pharmacy and laboratory services.
“We have a fully functional dental unit and we also have a radiology department which offers Ultrasound scans and also X-Rays. We have also a privileged of running specialist clinics here. The specialists that do attend to patients at our clinic include Gynecologists, Physicians an Orthopedic surgeon, a Neurosurgeon and Physio therapist,” he added.
Meanwhile, Sungura Ace and Red Cross Society Humanitarian Ambassador, Alick Macheso urged citizens to take up vaccination so that lives may at least return to normal.
