Doctors court traditional leaders on Covid vaccine

Society of Medical Doctors in Malawi president Dr. Victor Mithi has urged traditional leaders in Mchinji to encourage their subjects to get vaccinated against Covid-19 and observe the preventive measures.

He made the call on Monday during a meeting with the traditional leaders at Kamuzu Teachers’ Development Centre in the district.

Mithi said the misconceptions surrounding Covid-19 were a result of not having accurate information on the pandemic.

“We wanted to empower the leaders with accurate messages on Covid-19 so that they should help to address misconceptions surrounding the disease in their areas,” he said.

Mithi also said they signed an agreement with community radio stations to host the leaders to disseminate Covid-19 messages.

On his part, group village head Robert said he now has the right information about the pandemic.

“I ask fellow leaders to encourage their subjects to get their jabs and continue observing Covid-19 preventive measures,” he said.

In a separate interview yesterday, Mchinji District director of health and social services Juliana Kanyengambeta commended the team of doctors for the initiative.

She said: “Indeed there are a lot of misconceptions surrounding the vaccine.

“We are pleased that the doctors took their time to interact with traditional leaders on Covid-19 issues.”

James Zulu, a resident of Mchinji, said the initiative will remind people that Covid-19 is still in existence.

The meeting was attended by 40 traditional leaders.