Tanzanian leader cautious about Covid-19 vaccines

Tanzanian President John Magufuli has warned health officials against acquiring Covid-19 vaccines, saying – without giving any evidence – that they could harm the population.

“The health ministry should be careful, it should not rush to try these vaccines without doing research, not all vaccines are important to us, we have to be careful. We must not be used as ‘guinea pigs’, ”Magufuli said.

“Vaccinations are dangerous. If the white man was able to come up with vaccines, he should have found a vaccine for AIDS, cancer and tuberculosis by now.

BBC health reporter Philippa Roxby says vaccines are rigorously tested in trials involving thousands of people before being assessed by regulators, who review all data on vaccine safety and efficacy before approving them for use on a wider population.

The purpose of vaccines is to save lives by protecting people from deadly diseases, she says.

President Magufuli urged Tanzanians to continue taking precautions, saying prayers and traditional medicine, including steam inhalation, was the way to fight the coronavirus.

“Many countries have lockdown, but in Tanzania there is no lockdown plan and we will never introduce lockdown because our God is alive and He will continue to protect us.”

The president, a staunch Catholic who declared the country Covid-19 free last year, has not commented on the Catholic Church’s concern over the recent spike in deaths in its urban parishes.

“After successfully containing the spread of the virus last year, Tanzania was now facing a new wave of the spread of the virus,” the church said in a statement Tuesday.

“Our country is not an island. We have every reason to take precautions and pray to God that we can be saved from this pandemic.

Over the weekend, Bishop Yuda Thadei Ruwaichi of Dar es Salaam said: “Covid is not over, Covid is still here. Let’s not be reckless, we must protect ourselves, wash our hands with soap and water. We also need to start wearing masks again. “

The president also failed to respond to reports from Denmark that two of its citizens – who had visited Tanzania – had tested positive for the new Covid-19 strain from South Africa.

Rather, he blamed the citizens who travel out of the country for “importing a strange new crown”.

Tanzania stopped publishing official data on the coronavirus in June of last year.