SINCE the beginning of the month, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO), there has been a steady increase in new Covid-19 infections globally.
Between March 7 and 13, there have been 11 million new coronavirus infections and 43 000 deaths in the world.
There was a 25 percent jump in infections in South Korea and China, Africa 12 percent and Europe two percent.
At home, new infections have been recorded since March 1 and worryingly 60 percent of all cases involve school children — a worrying development since the country recently resumed face-to-face classes.
This has seen the government yesterday embarking on a Covid-19 vaccination blitz, which will mainly target the inoculation of juveniles between 12 and 17-years-old.
The blitz will cover the length and breadth of the country and would mainly be carried out at schools as the government aims at reaching herd immunity before year-end.
To achieve that, at least 10 people in the country needed to be vaccinated. At the moment, there are just over four million people who have been fully vaccinated.
It is incumbent upon all citizens to ensure that the vaccination blitz becomes successful. Parents and guardians have a responsibility to have them and their loved ones inoculated to reduce chances of dying in the event of infection. The increase in Covid-19 cases is a danger to the country’s economy and its citizens.
We have to embrace measures that would allow the economy to continue functioning and citizens earning a living.
The government, if the infections continue to soar up, would be left with no option except to impose hard lockdowns, which will paralyse industry and commerce, and affect the standards of living, especially for the poor and the down-trodden.
We have travelled this road before and it’s torturous. It is on the backcloth of this that we are calling for the ramping up of vaccination against Covid-19 in schools and the rest of the population.
We also passionately appeal to citizens to guard against being complacent. We need to be always on guard.
Parents and guardians must ensure that learners eligible for inoculation must do so. They have to ensure the learners musk up, sanitise and social distance wherever they are.
We have gone through four waves of coronavirus and we do not want to be hit by another wave soon which would disrupt our lives and derail, not only learning, but the country’s economic recovery.
Prevention is better than cure! Let’s embrace and support the new vaccination programme.
