Mozambique mobilizes young adults to get vaccinated against Covid-19

Day after day, Helder walks miles against fear and disinformation.

His job is to walk the streets of the outskirts of Maputo to raise awareness among young people about the vaccination against covid-19.

A mission promoted by the Mozambican Ministry of Health wants to immunize all adults of the country's 30 million inhabitants by the end of 2022.

But getting 17 million people vaccinated is not always an easy task.

As the person in charge of one of the vaccination posts in the suburbs of the capital says.

"You arrive in a house and you get three, four people who haven't been vaccinated yet. So that's the reason why we adopted the system of going door-to-door. The team doesn't go there, the mobilizer does, he organizes the vaccination since we have to be here with them in the proper environment. So the mobilizer goes and when he gets five, six people he brings them here," said Manuel Malar, head of the vaccination post of Bairro Ferroviário.

The Mozambican health ministry says that at least 6,8M people have taken one jab; 4,3M the second dose.

However, the country still has some pockets of resistance, especially among young people. They are the target group of the vaccination campaign against covid-19.

"The vaccine is effective, at least it decreases the probability of people being hospitalized. We still can get covid but in a lighter way. So people should trust the vaccine and come here to get vaccinated. And it doesn't hurt!" said Manuel

Appeals are being reinforced with the approaching festive season and the possible imminence of a fourth wave of the pandemic in Mozambique.