COVID 19: Rwanda starts to reap dividends of mass immunization

As the world struggles with one of the most horrendous pandemics in recent history, people in some countries are getting back to living a normal life bit by bit thanks to vaccination against COVID-19. 

While most developing countries face great challenges in inoculating their people, in Rwanda, efforts to have people immunized are gradually paying off.  More than a million Rwandans have got their first dose so far. Nearly 500,000 have already received both doses.

Ever since the World Health Organization authorized some pharmaceuticals to supply countries with COVID-19 vaccines, Rwanda has been fortunate enough to get a variety of vaccines and made good use of them. 

An impressive response from the people was observed. Rwandans responded positively to the call for mass vaccination since the beginning of August. They quickly understood the need to get vaccinated. Very much aware of the scarcity of the doses, they complied with the government immunization strategy that aimed at vaccinating people in a systematic way, starting with the front liners, the elderly and other susceptible groups as more and more vaccines continued to be received.

In the City of Kigali, every Rwandan above 18 years of age is eligible for the jab, free of charge. This is done at any of the more than 40 vaccination sites across the City. Across the country, a door-to-door exercise is underway to ensure that those who cannot make it to the vaccination centres due to either old age or physical impairment, are not left behind.  

Kigali, the country’s capital city, registered the most cases of COVID-19 infections. As such, 90% of the current vaccination phase is targeted to benefit the capital. The ongoing vaccination exercise is yet another significant move, which builds on the steady, scientifically-guided measures that the government of Rwanda adopted over the past 18 months to minimize the impact of the deadly virus.

Daily mass testing, contact tracing, progressive vaccination as well as the constant awareness campaign on the preventive measures have all contributed to the effective management of the pandemic by the Rwandan government. 

As of August 25, the tests carried out were more than two million. Vaccination figures stood at 1,242,465 people who received their first jab. Among those, 481,097 have received full doses of the vaccine. On August 25 alone, 84,740 people had received their first dose. 

A critical observation is that the Rwandan government attached great importance in constant and effective management of this pandemic.  Rwanda put health before wealth for its people.

Equally important is that Rwandans, despite all the challenges, quickly understood the government’s COVID-19 management strategy and commendably made effort to observe the measures put in place in dealing with the pandemic.  Rwandans continue to take COVID-19 prevention measures seriously.

On the other hand, it would be one-sided to recognize the people’s compliance to the prevention measures without  mentioning the government’s laudable efforts to protecting its people by taking on a pragmatic approach whenever the country was threatened by the rise in infections. Rwanda experienced various lockdown phases and their impact was helpful in reducing the infection rates thus allowing life to go on in a comparatively safe environment. 

With the most recent lockdown, the country managed to reduce the positivity rate from close to double digit to the current average of 3.8% in the last seven days. With the current immunization exercise, this rate will drop significantly and life will soon return normal. 

But there is more good news. Rwanda which is at the forefront of ensuring that vaccine production in Africa happens as soon as possible, on Friday, August 27, signed a deal that will see the country considered for the establishment of mRNA vaccine manufacturing capabilities in Africa. The deal was signed in Berlin, Germany, between officials of the government of Rwanda and those of BioNTech, a German biotechnology company pioneering novel therapies for cancer and other serious diseases. The company is most known for having partnered with Pfizer Inc. to develop the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine used in the fight against the pandemic.

As we applaud the government’s successful management of this pandemic and celebrate the gains made so far, we should also note that the pandemic is far from over. Even after getting all people immunized, it will not be safe to celebrate and forget. No country will be safe until all countries have made it to safety. 

That said; we should only keep up the good work, support our government in dealing with this challenging situation and keep protecting ourselves from getting infected. The struggle continues, we can make it.