HARARE, Zimbabwe — Zimbabwe President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s administration is increasingly suspicious that the United States and Western countries could use Covid-19 vaccines to influence a regime change in the southern African country.
The United States, Britain, and European Union have since 2000 called for political reforms in the nation following a chaotic land reform program and human rights violations.
Since the advent of the Covid-19 pandemic that has killed more than 3,170 people in the country, the Mnangagwa administration has snubbed western-manufactured vaccines in favor of those “foul weather friends”—China, Russia, and India.
The British-Swedish Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, along with Pfizer’s, and Moderna’s from the United States — all from perceived hostile countries with a regime change agendas — have not been cleared for use in the country.
The government approved vaccines from American manufacturer Johnson & Johnson on July 28 but did not indicate when they will arrive in the country.
“MDC-Alliance is in a bit of a bind which it now seeks to resolve, abortively aided by the undiplomatic US man here,” tweeted Charamba on July 19, 2021.
The tweet came from an account called @Jamwanda2, which according to Zimbabwean journalist Hopewell Chin’ono is Charamba’s account. Chin’ono was a 2010 Nieman Foundation Fellow at Harvard University.
He further stated: “The US Embassy strategy has been to desperately stampede the Ministry of Health to allow the government to accept importation and administration of those unregistered vaccines, using Covax facility. This would then provide cover for this political donation.”
“Unfortunately for them, Chinese, Russian and Indian vaccines, which are now registered for use in the country, are now registered with the WHO (World Health Organization), making them part of the Covax menu. Zimbabwe insists that any assistance under Covax limits itself to those registered vaccines. The US and their MDC-Alliance lackeys are in a real bind.”
Both the United States embassy in Zimbabwe and the opposition party refuted the claims.
“I repeat: the MDC Alliance has not received vaccines from any person or organization,” said the Movement for Democratic Change-Alliance spokesperson, Fadzai Mahere, in a tweet.
“It’s a matter of regret that Charamba continues to act in this disgraceful manner. He is telling lies and playing politics with people’s lives instead of focusing on curbing vaccine hesitancy.”
Health officials in the country steered off the controversy.
Source: Zenger News
Photo by Spencer Davis on Unsplash