VACCINES CONFUSION AT UTH

THERE was confusion yesterday at the University Teaching Hospital (UTH)Covid19 vaccination when people who were due for the second dose were told that the vaccines had run out.

People refused to leave the vaccination centre demanding that they take their doses.

It had to take the officials from the ministry of Health to calm the situation.

In April this year Zambia received the first consignment of 228,000 doses of the vaccine from the COVAX facility, and so far the cumulative vaccinations to date now stand at 135,299 Dose 1 AstraZeneca and 6,479 Dose 2 AstraZeneca (4.8% of those that received dose 1); and 6,826 Dose 1 Sinopharm and 6,215 Dose 2 Sinopharm (91% of those that received dose 1).

And Ministry of Health permanent secretary for technical services Kennedy Malama confirmed the development.

Dr. Malama said it was unfortunate that this was when the people had seen the importance of the vaccine and in the process causing drama.

"We do not have vaccines for the whole country at the moment, even for those who need the first dose, but we will be giving guidance tomorrow (today). people should also check themselves, they didn't want the vaccine now that they have seen how serious THE situation is they are jumping up and down," Dr Malama said. He said some people are due for second dose vaccination next week but they are going to the centres before the allocated dates. "We know that some people want to dramatize everything, but this is life, the vaccines are not enough, if your date in not due, don't go there but for those whose dates are due, those are the ones we are concerned about and we are listening to them so that we give them proper assurance, " he said.

And some Lusaka residents were yesterday sent home without getting their second dose of covid vaccination because centres had run out.

In random interviews from different centres, some hopeful residents had gone to their appointed centres only to be turned away because the vaccines had run out.

Ministry of Health spokesperson, Dr Abel Kabalo said in an interview that the panic was being caused by some people who were not following the due dates.

He noted that some people who were not due were frequenting the vaccination centres thereby causing unnecessary hysteria.