Madagascar’s Health Minister, Zely Arivelo Randriamanantany says the Malagasy people are keener to get vaccinated. However, figures clearly show the percentage remains slow. As to now, only 5412160 people have been vaccinated in a population of more than 20 million persons. Authorities are increasing efforts to go in remote areas and countryside to ask people to take the vaccine.
Madagascar has seen an increase in the number of Covid cases during the recent weeks with 470 cases from November 27 to December 3rd. There has been 44800 covid cases since March 2020 with 972 casualties.
Public health officials are doing everything possible to vaccinate as many citizens as possible and reach the goal of one million vaccinated by the end of the year. “They are mobilizing with companies and societies,” says the government member, before adding that “this goal will be achieved. And yet, this does not depend only on doctors, but especially on the willingness of citizens to be vaccinated, especially since it is not yet mandatory in Madagascar and no other restrictive measure has been introduced to push people to do so.
The Minister of Public Health also indicated that the stock of vaccines that the country currently has is more than enough to reach the goal. According to him, Madagascar has more than 1,500,000 doses of vaccine. All this is thanks to the efforts of the leaders and the contributions of partners in several initiatives and vaccination programs against the epidemic of Covid-19, which continues to cause panic among citizens.
