President Paul Kagame has said that Rwandans have no problem with ongoing vaccination campaign. If anything, Kagame pointed out, the current challenge is to be able to secure enough supply for the majority of Rwandans who are willing to be vaccinated. The Head of State was responding to concerns around mandatory vaccination during a media and citizen outreach Sunday afternoon on the national television. “This might be a far-fetched problem. We dont have a big problem with people refusing to take vaccines. The majority want vaccines but we cant even find it.” He added, “ If we can satisfy those who want it, who are also the majority, there is no big problem to make vaccinations mandatory.” This comes at a time Rwanda has ramped up vaccination efforts in all parts of the country. Last week alone, 108,000 doses of the Johnson&Johnson vaccine and another 200,000 AstraZeneca jabs landed in the country. Another batch of Pfizer vaccines is also expected to arrive on Monday, September 6. Kagame said that while there is still more work to do, at least 20 percent of the targeted population has been inoculated, citing that with the acquisition of more doses, Rwanda could reach its target of 60 percent by June next year. “The problem is to make it mandatory when vaccines are not there. We are not worried about making it mandatory,” he said. Meanwhile, the head of state rallied Rwandans to turn up for vaccinations, urging that it could be a prerequisite for the majority of international services. “The only thing is that it may be mandatory other than Rwanda. What we see is that some countries will not allow unvaccinated people on their land.” “I think the issue of making it mandatory is not a big problem for us, at least not as yet. The biggest problem for us today is having enough vaccines for Rwandans,” he reiterated. The latest figures from the Ministry of Health indicate that over 1.65 million Rwandans have received their first dose of Covid-19, while slightly more than half of them have been fully vaccinated. Rwanda rolled out the nationwide vaccination campaign in February this year with priority given to high-risk groups. More recently the Ministry of Health targeted all adults in the ongoing phase of the inoculation drive.
