- Vaccination sites experience low turnout of 30-year olds
- Ministry attributes low turnout to Independence holidays
- Says age the youth did not want their eagerness to imbibe disrupted
SESUPO RANTSIMAKO
The just-ended Independence seems to have affected the Phase 2 vaccination rollout plan for the 30-year age group as vaccination sites experienced declined numbers in the first days, The Botswana Gazette has established.
This is in spite of the fact that the age group makes up the majority of the country’s population. The vaccination rollout for the group started two days before the Independence holidays. Initially the Phase 2 vaccination rollout was for 45-year olds and above.
Vaccination sites have reported receiving large numbers of 45year olds age category.
The chief spokesman of the Ministry of Health and Wellness (MoH), Dr Christopher Nyanga, has confirmed this development. He says advice to stay for at least a week without taking alcohol may be to blame for the low turnout of the younger people in the category.
Nyanga told The Gazette that while most Gaborone vaccination sites have been receiving up to 300 people per day, the number dropped to 90. “It is true that the ministry was experiencing low turnouts at some of its vaccination sites across the country last week,” he noted.
“Most vaccination sites were vaccinating up to half their normal daily intake. In the last two days leading to the Independence holidays, the ministry was receiving up to 90 people per site per day in its densely populated places like Gaborone while on normal days they would receive up to 300 people per day.”
“Since vaccination for the 30-years-and-above age group started two days before the Independence holidays, it is only logical to suspect that many people within the age group felt that taking vaccines would disrupt their alcohol intake over the long weekend because of the advice that people should stay for at least a week without taking any alcohol after vaccination.”