President John Magufuli of Tanzania has told the Ministry of Health in Tanzania not to acquire Coronavirus vaccines without conducting research, claiming without evidence that vaccines are dangerous and could harm people.
The BBC news site reported that Magufuli also raised concerns that people in Tanzania could be used as ‘guinea pigs’ hence should be careful before using the vaccine.
“The ministry of health should be careful, they should not hurry to try these vaccines without doing research, not every vaccine is important to us, we should be careful. We should not be used as ‘guinea pigs’,” he was quoted as saying by the BBC.
“Vaccinations are dangerous. If the white man was able to come up with vaccinations, he should have found a vaccination for Aids, cancer and TB by now.”
Magufuli then encouraged people to pray and use traditional medicine, including steam inhalation in order to defeat the virus.
Tanzania stopped reporting new Coronavirus deaths, recoveries or cases last year and Magufuli says the country will not implement a lockdown due to the pandemic.
“We’ll never introduce lockdown because our God is alive and He will continue to protects us,” he said
However, The Catholic Church in Tanzania has been urging people to continue taking precautionary measures saying the country is experiencing a new wave of the virus.
“Our country is not an island. We have every reason to take precautions and pray to God so that we can be saved from this pandemic,” the church said.
