Macheso laments COVID-19 effects
SUNGURA maestro and Zimbabwe Red Cross humanitarian ambassador Alick Macheso yesterday lamented the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and urged citizens to get vaccinated to save lives.
The Madhau hit-maker made the remarks on the sidelines of a media tour of the Zimbabwe Red Cross Society Clinic’s COVID-19 vaccination site in central Harare.
“As musicians, we work with the public, so at Orchestra Mberikwazvo, we found it necessary to get vaccinated as we lead by example complementing government efforts in combating COVID-19 not by just singing, but let’s take the lead and get vaccinated,” he said.
“It is almost two years now since artists have not gone to work and I believe getting vaccinated can be the only way to get back to normalcy. I, therefore, urge fellow artistes, our fans and Zimbabweans at large to get vaccinated because we don’t know where this pandemic will take us.”
Macheso said people should not listen to street theories.
“Let’s not listen to those lots of theories discouraging people from getting vaccinated, these vaccines have been proven by health authorities so they will not kill us, let’s get vaccinated,” he said.
Speaking at the same event, Zimbabwe Red Cross Clinical director Joel Tapi said they opened the vaccination site to augment government’s vaccination drive.
“Zimbabwe Red Cross Clinic belongs to the Zimbabwe Red Cross Society that plays a humanitarian role in assisting the government and in terms of our model as a clinic we thrive to ensure that we are offering high quality medical care at a low cost.
“We intend to bridge between the private and public sectors,” he said.
“In support of the government’s COVID-19 response, we have also embarked on offering the vaccines (Sinovac and Sinopharm) to the general public for free, operating just like any other institution.
“We are seeing quite a number of people who are turning up to receive their vaccines on a daily basis.”
Tapi said as a clinic they offered a variety of services which include general practitioners, laboratory services, dental clinic and also specialist clinics that have experts such as physicians, gynecologist, orthopedic and neuro surgeons.