The Government of Rwanda has issued Covid vaccine mandates for public transport between the City of Kigali and other parts of the country, as well as places of worship, bars and restaurants across the city, among other places. Several institutions are also now requiring their staff to be fully vaccinated before accessing their premises, while some local government authorities have also moved to enforce vaccine mandates. This is part of a raft of more stringent Covid measures announced over the weekend designed to slow down the spread of the highly contagious Omicron variant, which was first detected in Rwanda last week. In fact, Covid vaccine mandates in Rwanda had earlier been introduced by different institutions, including some hotels, and it was only a matter of time before the same requirement was rolled out on a large-scale. While it is easy to claim that this is a discriminatory measure, it is only fair and just that people who have allowed to be vaccinated are protected from massive disruptions, because those who have rejected vaccines are more likely to catch and spread the virus. Right from the onset of the pandemic about two years ago Rwanda chose to follow science in all of its response and mitigation interventions, and science continues to guide the country in dealing with the problem, including new highly unpredictable variants. Thankfully, Rwanda has made significant progress in vaccination efforts, with statistics showing that it’s one of the African countries to have vaccinated the largest bulk of their populations. In Kigali alone, some 90 per cent are vaccinated. In recent days, the country has also rolled out vaccine boosters, initially targeting frontline workers, the elderly and people with underlying conditions, and the effort is continuing with other categories of the population, especially in the City of Kigali. Vaccines are safe and everyone should go for them (when it’s their turn), both the primary and booster jabs – not just so they can access public places and services, but primarily for their safety and to help protect their loved ones and the country in this fight. Besides that, there is a need to continue observing all the public Covid preventive guidelines, including during the upcoming festive season.
