Tanzania makes no plans to vaccinate population calling the country “Covid free”

Since the COVID-19 pandemic struck the world, Tanzania‘s government has insisted the country was free from Covid-19 and in light of vaccinations being distributed globally. Tanzanian governments state that they have so no plans for vaccinations.

Tanzania currently states that their number of COVID related deaths is 20. Whilst cases of COVID in Africa are some of the lowest in the world, many critics suspect that the government is hiding the true number of COVID-related deaths.

Tanzania’s government has not published data on the coronavirus cases for months, the country is “Covid-19-free”.There are little testing and no plans for a vaccination program in the country.

The British government has banned all travellers arriving from Tanzania, while the US has warned against going to the country because of coronavirus.

Since June last year, when President John Magufuli declared the country “Covid-19 free”, he, along with other top government officials, have challenged whether testing actually works.

Mr. Magufuli has also warned that Covid-19 vaccines could be harmful and has instead been urging Tanzanians to use steam inhalation and herbal medicines, neither of which have been approved by the World Health Organization (WHO) as treatments.

President Magufuli stated that “Tanzanians should not be used as guinea pigs” and that “If the white man was able to come up with vaccinations, he should have found a vaccination for Aids, cancer, and TB by now”.

“Covid is not finished, Covid is still here. Let’s not be reckless, we need to protect ourselves, wash our hands with soap and water. We also have to go back to wearing masks,” said Bishop of Dar es Salaam Yuda Thadei Ruwaichi.

The secretary of the Tanzania Episcopal Conference, Father Charles Kitima, told BBC Swahili that the church had noticed a rise in funeral services in urban areas.

This sense of carrying on as if nothing had happened is what the government has been encouraging.