Huye: Over 89% gets first doze of Covid-19 vaccine as more people are urged to turn up for the jabs

By Malachie Tuyishime.

Rwanda Government continues to enforce the measures against Covid-19 omicron variant pandemic and on top the vaccine is said to be strong and promising to bring life to normal.

The country has so far vaccinated over 80 percent of citizens who were given at least one doze.

In Huye District, Southern-Rwanda, 89 percent of citizens have received the first doze of the vaccine, which is giving a promise according to the district’s official information given to The Inspirer last week.

Sylvain Sindikubwabo, a citizen from Nyamagabe district who was in Huye district for business purposes told The Inspirer that he and his neighbors from the native district were voluntarily vaccinated. 

“I took two dozes of the vaccine willingly and I did not face any side effect. The majority of my neighbors are willingly being vaccinated without obstacles of churches and beliefs.” Sindikubwabo said.

André Kayijamahe, 71, one of the elderly people in Huye District. He said he has taken two dozes of the vaccine on his will.

“We all know that a child is vaccinated once he/she is born. I wonder why mature people deny vaccines, I think it is ignorance and I would advise people to get vaccinated. I think the government does not hate its citizens, though it is a way of protecting them against diseases.” Kayijamahe said adding that he did not experience any side effect of the vaccine and he did not wait fifteen minutes to leave the vaccination site.

Josée Mukabandora, is a citizen from Karama sector in Huye district and has taken two dozes of the vaccine in August 2021.

“I did not face any side effect from both doses, I was given a vaccination certificate and I am in good health conditions. I was told that the vaccine is important as it helps people to not feel the severity of the disease. I advise other people to get vaccinated too.” She said.

In an exclusive interview with The Inspirer about the status of covid-19 vaccination uptake among population and how it is helping to fight the pandemic, Ange Sebutege, the mayor of Huye District said that over 89 percent of Huye district population got at least one doze of the vaccine.

“It is something to celebrate in our district as many people are vaccinated and the initiative is ongoing. Citizens are taking the second doze near their locations and we encourage many people to get vaccinated as it is one way to end the Covid-19 pandemic.” He said.

Sebutege said that they are collecting statistics of citizens’ participation to the second doze of the vaccine.

He said that only few people have fear of the vaccine. He added that in partnership with religious leaders they will continue to mobilize citizens to change the mindset towards the vaccines’ effects. 

“We encourage people to leave out misleading worship, we do this in partnership with Religious leaders and we believe that a good worshipper is a healthy citizen. We have been encouraging people to be vaccinated and we have enough of the vaccines.” Sebutege noted.

Rwanda has achieved the target of vaccinating 40 percent of its population by December 2021, the initiative that many African countries would wish to attain. The country managed to give at least one dose of the vaccine to over 7.5 million of the targeted population from 12 years old and above by the end of 2021.

The two doses reached 5.3 million people while 111,681 got the booster shots.

Vaccines ranging from Pfizer, AstraZeneca, Johnson & Johnson, Sinopharm and Moderna are the ones the country uses to vaccinate the population.

As part of its efforts to strengthen health system, Rwanda will start building a local vaccine manufacturing plant by June 2022 which will be operational by 2024.

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