In anticipation of the spread of the coronavirus, the Congo-Brazzaville government has renewed the state of emergency for the twenty-fourth time this week, requiring vaccination for all healthcare staff, future students at public universities and ministry officials. The measure is appreciated by some but others shun it.
as reported from Brazzaville, Loïcia Martial
In the middle of the yard of a health center in Bacongo, in the second arrondissement, the police are sitting at a small table under an umbrella. They guide all users to whom they distribute the alcoholic gel and take the temperature. These agents have not yet been vaccinated against Covid-19 but they are ready and just waiting their turn. “Soon our turn will come. We need to be vaccinated because we are at the forefront of welcoming those suffering from this disease, “estimates a healthcare professional. We are a collective here at work. It is an obligation to get us vaccinated. That’s normal, ”said another.
Candidates for entrance exams to public university institutions must now include a vaccination register in their file. But this young candidate met in the courtyard of the Faculty of Law and does not have the head for the vaccination. “I am against it because I do not know the source of the vaccine. I do not know if the vaccine is genuine or not. This is my fear, he explains.
Many Congolese do not follow the vaccination while the authorities want to achieve 60% coverage which would make it possible to lift several restrictions applied since March 2020, the date of the onset of the disease in the country.
Brazzaville University Hospital Center (CHU) also has a new director general of Professor Thierry Gombet, of Congolese nationality. He was appointed to the Council of Ministers on 28 July. For the past three years, the structure has been managed by a Canadian team that the unions blame for embezzlement.
Read also: Congo-Brazzaville: Congolese are reluctant to get vaccinated against Covid-19
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