DODOMA, Tanzania
The Tanzania’s Minister of Health, Social Development, Gender, Elderly and Children, Dorothy Gwajima has on Monday said the ministry does not have plans of procuring the Covid-19 vaccine which is already in use in other countries.
Her
statement comes a week after Tanzania’s President John Magufuli warned the
ministry of foreign vaccines which he said had other motives behind.
The President claimed
that vaccinations against COVID-19 are dangerous and instead urged Tanzanians
to protect themselves from the deadly disease by using domestic measures
including steam inhalation.
Also
at the news briefing Gwajima called upon private, religious and political
institutions to refrain from providing health information that does not follow
the ministry's guidelines.
"We
have guidelines, because once these institutions provide such information, it
brings shock. All these institutions we want to stop providing any information
or make decisions." She said.
She
did not elaborate on what decision that the institutions should make.
In
another development, the health minister, urged Tanzanians to improve their
personal hygiene and environment by washing their hands using running water and
soap, steaming and the use of 'sanitizer'.
Gwajima
made the remarks on Monday, February 1, 2021 in Dodoma while delivering her
statement following reports of an outbreak of a second wave of Covid-19 in a neighboring country which she did not specify.
She
said the Ministry is reminding citizens to focus on the guidelines provided by
health professionals in the past.
"We must improve our personal hygiene, wash hands with running water and soap, use handkerchiefs, herbal steam, exercise, eat nutritious food, drink plenty of water, and natural remedies that our nation is endowed with because we have quite many of these natural remedies, ”said the minister.
She
added: “Through the Chief Government Chemist, the Ministry has been working to
inspect a number of natural remedies that have met the safety standards for
use, are already in use and they have helped Tanzanians, including me and
my family."
Despite
anecdotal evidence suggesting a potential resurgence of infections, the country
does not have official figures to indicate how widespread it might be, as the
health ministry stopped releasing regular updates on COVID statistics last
April 2020.
Tanzania reported 509 COVID-19 infections and 21 deaths in total, according to World Health Organization data.
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