COVID-19 vaccine pure hogwash, Tanzanian President Magufuli

Tanzanian President John Magufuli has said the COVID-19 vaccines are evil and that his compatriots will depend entirely on God to beat the virus.

Speaking on Wednesday, January 27, where he opened a farm in his home region, Magufuli said his country would not procure the vaccine but would insist on religiously using the traditional steam inhalation which he says is the best remedy.

“Vaccines are not good. If they were, then the white man would have brought vaccines for HIV/AIDS,” he said, as quoted by Reuters.

“We Tanzanians haven’t locked ourselves in and we don’t expect to lock ourselves down. I don’t expect to announce any lockdown because our God is living and He will continue to protect Tanzanians.”

The Tanzanian leader has contradicted the stand of World Health Organization (WHO) on the virus to the extent of sanctioning normal gathering at the time the world preached about obeying safety rules in 2020.

For instance, the East Africa country last issued a COVID-19 update in May 8, 2020, and by that time, WHO revealed that the country had 21 deaths and 509 cases.

After stopping the updates, the Tanzanian government exercised its muscles of power muzzling individuals and media from speaking about the virus. Tanzania also launched a diplomatic tiff with Kenya and Zambia when the two insisted that data had to be shared to ease the testing and movement of people across borders.

Rumours on kits

Before stopping the daily updates, Magufuli had made controversial allegations as he discredited the accuracy of the testing kits. He once alleged that his health department charged with testing the virus had tested a paw fruit and a goat and had awkwardly returned positive results.

He said his country remains committed to keeping safety measures but that is solely based on using the traditional methods like steaming. This is yet to be verified by the scientific means.

He said, “We will also continue to take health precautions including the use of steam inhalation.”

“You inhale while you pray to God, you pray while farming maize, potatoes, so that you can eat well and corona fails to enter your body. They will scare you a lot, my fellow Tanzanians, but you should stand firm.”