The Minister of State in the Ministry of Health (MoH), Lt. Col. Dr Tharcisse Mpunga, has called on Rwandans to observe all Covid-19 prevention measures, since only over 345,620 people (5 per cent of the population) will be fully vaccinated by the end of June. 

This is way below the target of 60 per cent of the population to be vaccinated, he said from his office during an exclusive interview with The New Times on May 11.

He particularly called on citizens who received the mandatory two Covid-19 jabs to remain vigilant and observe all national safety protocols, just like anyone else.

In March, the country began the exercise of vaccinating citizens starting with front-line workers in healthcare and other priority groups such as people above 65, and those with underlying health conditions.

According to MoH, this year would leave at least 30 per cent of the population vaccinated, but the process is slow mainly because of the difficulties in getting the vaccines.

Dr Mpunga said that a lot of vaccines the country received are from the COVAX initiative, which seeks to ensure access to a Covid-19 vaccine for both higher and middle-income countries.

"COVAX is going to cover at least 20 per cent of the population, which is not enough as long as we need to vaccinate almost 60 per cent of the population to get herd immunity,” he said.

By Friday, the country had received a total of 692,240 doses: 487,660 of AstraZeneca and 203,580 of Pfizer, and almost 99 per cent of them had been used.

"AstraZeneca doses are used up, and there are only a few doses of Pfizer which will be given in three weeks’ time to people who recently received the first jab," he said.

He added that the government was negotiating with other manufacturing companies to see if they can buy additional doses of vaccines to cover the gap. "We are also having bilateral negotiations with other countries to see if they can also support us, also there are some grants and donations.”

"Our intent is not to focus on AstraZeneca or Pfizer or Moderna, our objective is to cover the vaccination of the population we want to vaccinate using approved and certified vaccines (by WHO),” he added.

Dr Mpunga said the country is still set to reach the target of vaccinating 60 per cent of the population in two years’ time. "But, of course, this will depend on the production and availability of vaccines. We are trying to see if we can be able to vaccinate the entire targeted population by the end of 2022,” he added.

Herd immunity

The minister insisted that until 60 per cent of the country is vaccinated, people are urged to keep following all Covid prevention measures, whether vaccinated or not, "because everyone can transmit the virus.”

The primary preventive measures include wearing masks properly, keeping distance and washing hands regularly.

"The vaccine is not preventing you from being infected with the virus. Rather it is preventing you from having severe disease and death, because it boosts your immunity to fight the virus, but you can still be tested positive though the virus is not going to affect you as much as someone who was not vaccinated,” said Mpunga.

He reminded the general public that the virus is still there and there are other variants elsewhere "so it requires everyone’s effort to prevent them from entering the country.”  

Mpunga said that the number of people who are vaccinated is still few, and "they must not consider themselves to be on the safe side, they are still exposed and can be infected even if they are not going to have this severe disease but they are going to still transmit disease.”

He suggested that until the country is able to vaccinate 60 per cent of the population to gain herd immunity, everyone must take responsibility for preventing the virus from spreading by following all guidelines in place.

According to the World Health Organization, herd immunity denotes "the indirect protection from an infectious disease that happens when a population is immune either through vaccination or immunity developed through previous infection.”

The UN agency says it "supports achieving 'herd immunity' through vaccination, not by allowing a disease to spread through any segment of the population, as this would result in unnecessary cases and deaths.”