MBABANE – Minister of Health Lizzie Nkosi has announced that the ministry will soon deploy healthworkers to vaccinate eligible pupils in schools.
Through a statement released on Thursday, the minister encouraged community members, especially the youth to get vaccinated.
“We encourage community members, particularly out of school youth, to also come vaccinate at sites nearest to them,” she said.
When speaking on safety of COVID-19 vaccines, the minister stated that COVID-19 vaccines were developed using science that has been around for decades, hence they are not experimental. She explained that they went through all the required stages of clinical trials.
“Extensive testing and monitoring have shown that these vaccines are safe and effective. COVID-19 vaccines have received and continue to undergo the most intensive safety monitoring across the globe,” she said.
She continued: “COVID 19-vaccines are effective and can keep you from getting seriously ill even if you do get COVID-19. People with pre-existing illness stand to benefit immensely from vaccination since they tend to get severe COVID-19 disease.”
On the importance of vaccination, the minister pleaded the nation to get vaccinated regardless of whether you already had COVID-19. She said evidence is emerging that people get better protection by being fully vaccinated compared with having had COVID-19.
“Some unvaccinated people who get COVID-19 can become severely ill which could result in hospitalisation, putting pressure on health system. This can lead to inadequate resources to match demand for care thus worsening clinical outcomes,” she said.
“COVID-19 vaccines are the most effective way to protect against infectious diseases. Vaccines strengthen your immune system by training it to recognise and fight against specific viruses. When you get vaccinated, you are protecting yourself,” she said.
The politician further explained that when enough people in the community are vaccinated, it slows down the spread of disease. She stated that achieving herd immunity is a long-term goal. She said it usually requires a large amount of the population to be vaccinated.
“Higher vaccination rates make outbreaks much less likely. It also reduces the need for preventive measures, such as border closures and movement restrictions. This will reduce the health, social and economic impacts of COVID-19 pandemic,” she said.
“None of the COVID-19 vaccines contain the live virus that causes COVID-19 so a COVID-19 vaccine cannot make you sick with COVID19,” explained the minister.
“Vaccination is open to all the people living in the country eighteen (18) years old and above. We encourage all emaSwati and residents of Eswatini to register for vaccination using the COVID-19 Vaccination Registration link http://eswatinihealth.org,” she said.
“We would like to further urge the Nation to make use of the Ministry of Health’s WhatsApp helpline 7943 6585 for all questions related to COVID-19 and the vaccination programme.”
