The Deputy Minister of Health, Dr John Mangwiro, has ordered the Grain Marketing Board (GMB) to take maize deliveries from vaccinated farmers only.
Speaking at a meeting at Chivhu District Hospital in his Constituency on Wednesday, Mangwiro said farmers must produce vaccination cards while all GMB workers must be vaccinated.
He asked the Joint Operations Command (JOC) for Chikomba District to immediately enforce the policy despite the official position saying vaccination is voluntary.
Mangwiro said workers in the farms and people in the villages have tested positive to Covid-19 and advised people to be vigilant and avoid gatherings. He said:
_For a farmer to deliver his or her grain, he or she must first produce a vaccination card. The same should happen to our GMB officers across the country, they should be vaccinated._
_We want to make sure that every vendor out there is vaccinated because they mix with different people when selling their products. Our District Task force and JOC members should make sure that this is enforced immediately._
Some farmers warned that the policy will result in low deliveries to the GMB while some expressed concern over the move saying vaccination was slowly becoming compulsory.
More: Pindula News; The Mirror