Of poor communication, new Covid-19 variant and vaccines

There have reports alleging a lack of transparency by the Ministry of Health and Child Care with regards to the “actual” number of deaths in the country due to Covid-19.
The reports claim underreporting.
Ministry of Health officials have defended their reporting system while their sympathisers have also spoken about excess deaths.
There may as well be some discrepancies or perhaps the Ministry of Health is correct that the way they report is not “real time” and thus some people may think that they have not recorded deaths yet the simple explanation is that the deaths would not have been captured yet.
We, on the other hand, believe that the problem here has to do with communication.
Indeed the likes of Nick Mangwana, the Secretary for Information, try to ensure that information gets to the people but he does not always have all the facts or the necessary clarity on issues.
For instance, when Zimbabwe began its first lockdown it seemed that no one knew what alert level Zimbabwe was on.
In fact, most people were surprised when President Mnangagwa, in one of the fortnightly reviews of the lockdown in 2020 began to talk about lockdown levels. No one seemed to know whether we were counting up or down.
Again recently no one spoke clearly about the country being hit by a second wave.
Right now no one has said whether Zimbabwe is dealing with a new Covid-19 variant or not. It is not even clear if the country has the technology to tell whether there is a new variant in the country or not.
Dr Agnes Mahomva, the Chief Coordinator of the National Response to the Covid-19 Pandemic in the Office of the President and Cabinet, has mumbled something but it is not coherent enough.
In fact, most people believe that she does not inspire confidence nor does she communicate effectively despite the acres of space she is accorded in various newspapers and exposure she gets on television and radio.
National Microbiology Reference Laboratory coordinator in the Ministry of Health Dr Sekesai Zinyowera spoke to Nhau recently.
Dr Zinyowera confirmed that the country has adequate facilities to detect the new Covid-19 variant, yet several weeks after it was discovered just across the border, where tens of thousands travelled from over the Christmas holidays, the country still hasn’t verified whether the new variant is in Zimbabwe or not.
“Yes, I think we actually have it because it is so contagious, because of the mass people that came from South Africa during the Christmas time,” said Dr Zinyowera.
“Right now we are having so many samples coming to the lab and we just have to test. What we are doing for the specimen that are coming in is PCR tests but when we want to check whether there is a new variant, we have to do a test known as genotyping, it’s a different kind of testing.
“We have not yet done the testing for the new variant, we don’t have any confirmation at the moment. Yes, we do have the detection facility. Now we just need to collect samples so that we check if we now have that new variant.”
One might ask why we would need to know if there is a new variant or not in Zimbabwe.
Experts say the new variant appears to be more contagious, thus tougher restrictions on society may be needed to control its spread. With adequate information – people might just behave differently.
And then there is the issue of vaccines.
The nation was recently informed that Zimbabwe is taking a measured approach to vaccines yet there had not been any clear communication on whether Zimbabwe was formally part of the COVAX facility or not.
Right now it is not clear whether Zimbabwe is waiting and hoping to get a vaccine from the United Kingdom or wants to pursue its look east policy and wait for a donation from China.
Said Vice President Chiwenga: “Despite the observations made that other African, European and Asian countries had started rolling out vaccines, Zimbabwe adopted a measured approach, with experts interrogating all safety concerns.
“Let me underscore that my Ministry is doing everything possible to ensure that our citizens are safe from possible side effects of some Covid-19 vaccines currently on the shelf.”
Again it is not clear whether the country will be buying, is it part of the COVAX facility or it is simply waiting for donations.
There is no clear vaccine rollout plan, rather no clear communication for such a plan. Nhau/Indaba