Covid-19 vaccination drive now taken to city bus parks

Adults in the City of Kigali who missed out on Covid-19 vaccination can now receive their first or second dose of vaccine in a newly rolled out campaign. Rwanda Biomedical Centre (RBC) on November 16, stepped up a mass vaccination campaign in different bus parks across the city. They are Nyabugogo, DownTown, Remera, Kimironko and Nyanza Bus Parks. The New Times visited Kimironko and Remera Bus Parks, where a large number of people, as observed, queued in lines to receive vaccine doses and talked to some of them about their participation in the latest drive. Hundreds of residents queue to get a Covid-19 jab during a newly rolled out vaccination campaign at bus stations across the City of Kigali on Tuesday, November 16. Photo: Craish Bahizi. Fidence Twahirwa, a resident of Kimironko sector, said he didn’t get vaccinated earlier because he was caught up in school programmes but now is grateful for this opportunity. “I was always worried about how I will get my first dose since they were only giving the second one in health centres but this has come to help many of us who missed out,” he said. Florence Mukasekuru, an informal sector worker in Kimironko Bus Park, said that she was afraid to take the vaccine at first, from hearsays that the vaccine had side effects on those who took it. However, she said that she came to understand that this was a government’s plan for the benefits of citizens and she had to obey. Kimironko Bus Park site coordinator, Edward Mugisha, said they had a target to first carry out 100 Covid-19 tests and all of them were negative, adding that many people turned up for the vaccine. “We are inoculating the first dose of AstraZeneca and the second of Pfizer, no one (eligible) can come here and go without being vaccinated,” he said. Geofrey Gasasira, resident in Gatenga sector, Kicukiro District, said he did not receive his vaccine jab earlier out of sympathy for older people and others with Non-Communicable Diseases to get vaccinated first. “Seeing that we are in a developing country, I thought there might be a shortage of vaccines but from what can be observed they are available,” he said, encouraging those who haven’t yet received their jabs to come and get vaccinated. Remera Bus Park site coordinator, Clementine Mizero said that this drive is aimed to facilitate people in their different working environments and commuters to get vaccinated and curb any sudden rise in positive cases. “There are various reasons why some might have missed out. Some were in their early stage of pregnancy, others were impatient with queues at health centres,” she explained. It is also expected that the vaccination drive is going to be extended to markets and churches and in the outskirts of Kigali. The vaccination campaign has been taken to different districts outside Kigali after statistics from the Ministry of Health showed that 90 per cent of adults in Kigali were vaccinated, As of November 15, at least 4,940,121 people had received the first dose while 2,719,744 people got the second dose.

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Covid-19 vaccination drive now taken to city bus parks