HARARE, Nov. 15 (Xinhua) -- Zimbabwe will include the COVID-19 vaccination in the second round of its polio vaccination campaign set for early next month, a cabinet minister said Tuesday.
Addressing a post-cabinet media briefing, Sekai Nzenza, acting minister of information, publicity and broadcasting services, said the COVID-19 vaccination would tackle the recent increase in new cases of 295 last week from 179 the week before.
She said that hospital admissions had also increased to 26 last week from 13 reported the previous week.
The minister said provinces continue to prioritize COVID-19 vaccinations in all schools, focusing on the secondary schools that have not yet reached the second dose coverage target of 70 percent.
Zimbabwe conducted the first round of polio vaccination throughout the country from Oct. 27-30 to protect children below the age of five following an outbreak of the disease in neighboring Malawi and Mozambique.
The second round will run from Dec. 1-4.
Zimbabwe has recorded 258,643 COVID-19 cases as of Nov. 13, with 252,567 recoveries and 5,610 deaths.
A total of 6,560,712 first doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have been administered, while 4,929,331 people have received their second dose and 1,215,375 their third. ■
