FOLLOWING a measles outbreak that spread throughout the country in 2022, killing and infecting mainly unvaccinated children from apostolic sects in Zimbabwe, the country has witnessed an increase in coverage for measles vaccination in apostolic groups.
By Michael Gwarisa
The measles outbreak was first recorded in Mutasa District in Manicaland Province where several unvaccinated children from the Marange Apostolic sect, a highly vaccine hesitant group, succumbed to Measles before spreading to some parts of Mashonaland and Midlands provinces.
According to data from Amnesty International Zimbabwe, 750 children below the age of five, largely from apostolic sects, succumbed to the measles outbreak of 2022 with more than half of the deaths being community deaths. Majority of these deaths were recorded in Mutasa District.
However, following the launch of a nationwide measles vaccination programme by the Ministry of Health and Child Care (MoHCC) and its partners UNICEF Zimbabwe, World Health Organisation (WHO, GAVI Vaccine Alliance and others, the country has recorded a massive increase in vaccination amongst apostolic children.
Speaking to Journalists, UNICEF Zimbabwe Public Health Officer, Meggie Gabida said Zimbabwe scored huge in terms of vaccinating children from Apostolic sects against measles.
For those that have followed through the discussions for the measles outbreak in Mutasa District you will note that probably vaccine hesitancy in terms of measles is actually going down.
“This is because in Mutasa, we are recording more than 95 percent coverage and we know that for Manicaland, 40 percent of the population there is deemed to be from the vaccine hesitant groups which is the apostolic. This means that the apostolic are actually coming up and are taking immunisations,” said Gabida.
Zimbabwe is working on conducting a national Zero Dose mapping following an urban based Zero dose mapping that was held around December to determine the groups and people who have never been vaccinated in order to understand from their perspective why they have never been vaccinated.
“You will note that religion still tops in terms of the reason for not being immunized but we are also noting some emerging aspects for example children that reside in homes where there is no Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Services are more likely not to be vaccinated.”
Mr Norman Dzirambi, the Health Promotion Manager-EPI in the Ministry of Health and Child Care said while acknowdgeing the increase in measles vaccination children from vaccine hesitant groups, it is critical to note that the continuum of vaccine hesitancy has increased especially with the advent of COVID-19.
“We used to know particular communities that would say no to vaccinations but when the COVID-19 pandemic came into the picture, even before the vaccines, there was a lot of misinformation about the vaccines. The hesitancy has increased to even the elite, to health workers and other religions that used to support vaccination.
“As government and partners, we engage known objector communities to vaccines or to other health interventions. As we speak, there is high level engagement of all groups of people including religious groups with the aim of increasing vaccination. The measles outbreak that occurred last year is a case in point where we obtained very high coverage that speak to people who are usually objective to vaccinations. They have come,” said Mr Dzirambi.
He added that some members from vaccine hesitant groups requested for special vaccination arrangements and this saw the number of vaccinated people going up across all other diseases such as COVID-19, measles and others.
Meanwhile, Dr Maxwell Rupfutse, Public Health Officer with WHO urged all parents of children who missed the measles vaccination due to disruptions during COVID-19 to present themselves and have their children vaccinated.
“Everyone can still catch up on these vaccines that they missed. The measles vaccine can be given to anyone in any case. So if a child missed a vaccine at nine months, they can still get their vaccine starting at 12 months for example. Even starting at two years.”
