Covid-19 in Tanzania: What experts told President Suluhu

Dar es Salaam, 

Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan on Monday received a report from a special committee of experts which she formed to evaluate the Covid-19 pandemic.

The committee was formed to advise the government on the way forward regarding the management of the pandemic which first struck the country in March 2020.

Tanzania has, for a long time, not released its Covid-19 statistics but there have been reports that the disease has killed many there.

Read: Magufuli warns Tanzanians against 'foreign' Covid-19 vaccines

Also read: Tanzania's Magufuli appears to accept Covid 'exists'

The report of the experts was handed over to President Suluhu by committee chairman, Prof Said Aboud, at State House Dar es Salaam.

They committee's key recommendations are as follows:

• The government should revitalise emergency plans at all levels for disaster response, including on the Covid-19 epidemic.
• The government should provide information on the presence of Covid-19 and take concrete steps to strengthen all preventive measures at all levels to prevent the third wave of the disease.
• Health professionals should fulfill their professional responsibilities, based on professionalism, norms and values ​​in educating, preventing and treating Covid-19 disease in the country.
• Tanzania participates effectively in decision-making and implements regional and international resolutions adopted in the EAC, SADC, AU and WHO communities.
• The government [should] use its instruments to proceed with steps towards allowing the free use of the vaccine against Covid-19, using the vaccines listed by the World Health Organization, in order to give its citizens the opportunity to protect their citizens, because through the analysis of the committee, such vaccines are scientifically effective and safe;
• The National Independent Immunization Advisory Committee (NITAG) and the Medicines and Medicines Authority (TMDA) should continue to be involved in advising and controlling such vaccines;
• Priority for the provision of vaccines against Covid-19 in the country should start with the following categories of importance: healthcare workers and frontline workers for example workers in the tourism industry, hotels and at borders; religious leaders and pilgrims; the elderly and adults aged 50 and over; adults with comorbidities such as diabetes, high blood pressure, respiratory diseases, and kidney disease; staff of defense and security agencies; and [people] travelling abroad.

• To mobilise and prepare for the reception, care, transportation and delivery of vaccines, and [for] the public to be free to decide whether to vaccinate or not. The government will coordinate access to immunisations for staff of international institutions in the country.

"Tanzania not an island"

Speaking in Dar es Salaam on April 6, during the swearing in ceremony of Permanent Secretaries and their deputies,  President Samia said she intended to form a committee to advise the government on Covid-19 issues.

“On the issue of Covid-19, I think I should form a committee of experts to look at it professionally and then advise the government. It should not be silenced or rejected or accepted without professional research,” she said.

She added: "We cannot isolate ourselves as if we are an Island but also, we cannot accept everything brought to us ... we cannot continue just reading about Covid-19 worldwide yet Tanzania is all blank, it is incomprehensible."

According to the President, Tanzania needs to have a clear and understandable position regarding the pandemic so that it can make informed decisions.

In view of that, she said, Tanzania cannot rely on outside reports on the state of the pandemic while it has none.

“Tanzania needs to have its own understanding of where we stand on the issue of Covid-19,” she stressed.

Tanzania last released data on Covid-19 almost a year ago, with data then showing that it had recorded just 509 cases.

Since then, the government adopted the approach that Tanzania was free from Covid-19, with authorities encouraging local remedies such as steam therapy.