Civic society organisations (CSOs) have urged the government to publish the results from the tests that have been conducted on the COVID-19 vaccines.
The call comes at a time when the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Information Nick Mangwana tweeted that it will take only 48 hours to examine authenticity of the Chinese vaccine Sinopharm.
China donated about 200 000 doses of the vaccine which have already arrived in Zimbabwe.
Government is already making preparations for deployment across the country without publishing the test results.
However, ZIMCODD, Kubatana, Zimrights, Citizens Manifesto and Magamba Network are opposed to the idea.
The CSOs through a campaign dubbed #WhereAreOurVaccinesZW, are demanding that test results be published first.
“…the right to a vaccine is the right to a safe and effective vaccine. Show us the science.
“We need to see the scientific evidence confirming which strains we have in Zimbabwe so that we know which vaccine to use,” they said.
Govt unwilling to release data
Zimbabwe has not been willing with COVID-19 data, a development which has seen some suspecting that it is cooking figures.
The government dragged when it was asked to publish its roll-out plan in full, preferring to give it in drips.
There are reports that government is unwilling to get an opinion from independent scientists in the country on the vaccines.
However, the CSOs, are of the view that local scientists and researchers should have a say in determining the choice of vaccine.
They added that without transparency, the vaccine program might fail to effectively work.
“Donations are nice but we can’t out source our research process. What do Zimbabwean scientists and researchers say about the strains we have in Zimbabwe?
“Use the process to rebuild some trust. For Zimbabwe’s vaccination program to work, we need to have confidence about what vaccines are being administered and why.
“Transparency with data will enable independent verification and advance research efforts,” the CSOs said in their demands to the government.
President Emmerson Mnangagwa has also hinted that some vaccines from Russia and India are on their way.
He however did not mention the names of the vaccines.
Besides the donated vaccines, Zimbabwe said it has set aside about US$100 million for the vaccination program.
About 10 million people are earmarked for the vaccination program to reach herd immunity. Get more Covid-19 Stats from CovidZW.info #OpenCovidContracts #WhereAreOurVaccinesZW
Publish COVID-19 vaccine test results: CSOs
