By: Kelvin Chiringa
People that have received a third dose of the Covid-19 vaccine are getting infected by the virus, the latest statistics by the health ministry show.
Confirmed cases of Covid-19 that came in this week Tuesday show that 26 had received one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, 97 cases were fully vaccinated, while four received three doses.
The ministry said 43 vaccinated cases did not specify the number of doses received in this number.
The latest infections stood at 931, pushing the total countrywide cases to 10 227.
The ministry further reported one death and five Covid-19 related deaths from three districts.
“One (1) death occurred on 8 December 2021 while five (5) occurred between 14-19 December 2021. One of the deceased was vaccinated,” the ministry said.
In the meantime, prominent lawyer, Richard Metcalfe, has cast doubt over the daily health ministry statistics on Covid-19 infections, especially the ones released on 19 December 2021, saying they appeared exaggerated.
Metcalfe will be the first of a few that have dared challenge the ministry’s daily stats that have continued to inform Namibia’s Covid situation.
The lawyer also represents the Namibia National Workers Union (NUNW) in their challenge against Namcor workers being jabbed mandatorily without adequate information.
“Taking a glance at the statistics, it looks as if these statistics are fake. I say this for the following reason, they show a total of 235 000 people having been vaccinated with a second shot, then they show 335 000 having completed vaccination. It calls for some explanation because one does not know where they get the extra 100 000 people from.
“And this is just the problem with this Covid and the plan-demic that is allegedly running amongst us. The figures are distorted, and they are sucked out of the air. There is also a number of instances who test, for instance, in Windhoek, and they are positive, 24 hours later, they get another test in Walvis Bay, and they are negative. This is continually happening,” he said.
Metcalfe’s audio hit the internet this week in which he takes on President Hage Geingob and Attorney General Festus Mbandeka, cautioning against invoking fear of forced vaccinations in the people.
This is despite Geingob coming out many times to state that Namibians continue to be respected for their rights to opt to be jabbed or not.
He has come out strongly, however, that people be jabbed and has warned of drastic measures if people don’t comply with regulations.
“So, there is some fallacy in all of this. Then we have the issue pertaining to the vaccination of children and the exhortations to say that children from the age of 14 to 17 can consent themselves. Yes, they can, but there is a second part to that consent in terms of section 220 of the Act, and that is that children will then need to be certified by the doctor that the person was able to give consent.
“But then there is another problem, one will have to sign a non-liability form which holds government not liable for any harm or consequences which will result as a result of the administration of the vaccine. And there you will have to be the age of 18. So, you would need the assistance of a parent to allow you to sign such a document.
“So, this in effect blocks anybody below the age of 18 whose parent does not consent to the vaccination from being vaccinated. That’s the legal situation. It’s absolute. They can’t do anything about it,” said the lawyer.
He also said there appears to be head immunity which seems to be prevailing in the country as a natural consequence of being subjected to any “flu/SARS virus”.
Health minister Kalumbi Shangula and Geingob have, however, more than once stressed that the country was still far from hitting the roof of head immunity due to vaccine apathy and slow uptake.
“We seem to have achieved a natural head immunity already in Namibia without the vaccination because the government has failed dismally in the numbers of persons supposed to be vaccinated.
“There is 250 000 who are fully vaccinated out of a target group of 1.7 million. It’s almost the end of the year, and they are far short of their required numbers. It simply does not make sense at all.
“But anyway, let us hope sense prevails and everybody is safe and that all Namibians have a beautiful Christmas and we stand united in allowing everybody the freedom of choice to decide whether they wish to be vaccinated, whether they want to receive other forms of medication to combat what is nothing more than a flu, that is battered up and battered up for western governments to force Africans to be vaccinated. We are not unpatriotic, Mr President, if we do not take the vaccine.
“You are then telling us that 2.2 million Namibians are unpatriotic. This is very harsh and unjust, and uncalled for. We are all Namibians, we support each other, and we can disagree and still be united as Namibians and friends. This is what democracy is all about. It’s called freedom of choice.
