US Foreign Affairs
Tanzania’s Iron Lady: One Day Rule of Samia is Better than 100 Years of Magufuli
Finally, Tanzanian people can start hoping for the good days ahead. The country is all set to follow a scientific path to pursue COVID-19 vaccinations amid the new President Samia Suluhu’s
heroics.
The Samia Suluhu COVID committee, formed by the incumbent president in April, has started yielding positive results. It advised the government not only to acquire vaccines for the masses but also to join
COVAX. This UN-led initiative is on a mission to vaccinate the world.
The committee’s chairman, Prof. Said Aboud, recommended various policy options in Dar es Salaam to the government in the presence of permanent secretaries and their deputies. The hopes are high that Tanzania would procure COVID-19 vaccines to curb the virus.
This is a significant development for the people of the African country, as the events unfolded unexpectedly after the
death of the COVID-skeptic president of the country in March.
The developments are also interesting in the way that Samia Suluhu also served as a Vice-President during President John Magufuli’s tenure. Yet, the government took no action to stop COVID at that time.
Samia Suluhu’s attitude towards the scientific culture will help the country evade the virus and develop a positive national narrative not to rely on superstitions or non-scientific voices anymore.
The Samia Suluhu COVID committee has recommended the use of vaccines for people to achieve herd immunity.
Not only this, but the committee has also encouraged the government to publicize the data on deaths and infectious people.
If accepted by the government, this strategy will also be a decider for Tanzania. The data will help the government determine the efficacy rate of vaccines and their impact on reducing COVID-related deaths.
This realization by the Samia Suluhu COVID committee overlaps with Biden’s announcement of
sending 80 million vaccines to the world to contain the spread of the virus.
As Vice President Kamala Harris has already extended her support to Samia’s government, it is time for the Samia administration to acquire as many vaccines out of these 80 million as possible through diplomacy.
Then comes the importance of COVAX in today’s vaccination setup. As Tanzania will be one of the African countries affected by the export ban of India, joining COVAX and acquiring vaccines from other countries is the only option because the Biden administration will be sharing these vaccines through COVAX.
As the Tanzanian government is not bound to comply with all the recommendations proposed by the committee, it remains on President Samia Suluhu how aggressive she is in the actual implementation of these recommendations.
Seeing the pro-vaccination attitude of the government, it is expected that the incumbents will obey all the recommendations immediately so that they do not miss the 80 million vaccination opportunity.
