Malawi has once again missed its Covid-19 vaccination target with less than two million of the targeted 11 million population fully vaccinated.

The country targeted to vaccinate 30 percent of the targeted 13.4 million people by June 30 2022.

But statistics from the Ministry of Health show that only 1 727 288 Malawians have been fully vaccinated, translating to 9.0 percent of the targeted population.

Divala: All forces are against health efforts

The statistics further show that 2 387 838 have at least received the first dose, translating to 12.4 percent. About 815 201 have been fully vaccinated with single dose while 919 312 have been fully vaccinated with second dose and 49 288 have been vaccinated with booster dose.

Epidemiologist Dr Titus Divala attributed the low vaccine uptake to the decline in the risk of death, saying Covid-19 is no longer taken as a serious concern globally and locally.

He said earlier in the pandemic, news of widespread mortality led to higher interest in vaccines.

Said Divala: “All these forces are working against public health efforts to protect the population from the virus.

“People’s interest in the Covid-19 vaccine and other public health interventions is driven by several factors: the threat they attach against what the vaccine is trying to prevent, their trust in the vaccine benefit, their perception of vaccine safety, general trend at global and local level and misinformation.”

In its Covid-19 report yesterday, Presidential Task Force on Covid-19 chairperson, who is also Minister of Health, Khumbize Chiponda, encouraged Malawians, especially those with comorbidities to go for vaccination so that they are protected from the virus.

In January this year, the World Health Organisation called on countries, including Malawi to vaccinate at least 70 percent of their population, starting July 2022 and integrate Covid-19 vaccination into routine health services.

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