Ministry of Health has conceded that it has been facing challenges to get people in the rural areas to get vaccinated against Covid-19.

Speaking to YONECO FM Ministry of Health spokesperson Adrian Chikumbe said, this has forced the ministry to make some changes in order to get more people to get vaccinated against the pandemic.

“We found that the reason why most people are not embracing the vaccine is the long distance they have to travel to the health facilities so in order to ease this challenge we decided to take a different approach where we are now taking the vaccines close to people,” he said.

Chikumbe also cited the use of people of influence such as traditional leaders and religious leaders among others, to relay messages on the importance of getting vaccinated against Covid-19 to the people.

Malawi is currently administering the AstraZeneca and Johnson and Johnson vaccines.

For Malawi to achieve herd immunity for Covid-19 it is required to vaccinate at least 11 million people.

As of August 31, 2021, the country had vaccinated 410,484 people against Covi-19.