Politics of vaccines for child-bearing women in Johane Masowe eChishanu church in Zimbabwe

Abstract

The upsurge of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has challenged the medical community internationally to find a cure to curb its spread. Existing investigations, mostly on SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) have given researchers a learning curve on vaccination tactics for dealing with this new COVID-19. Several vaccines were produced, namely Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, Sputnik V, AstraZeneca, Johnson and Johnson, Novavax, Sinopharm and Sinovac, among others. There were several conspiracies about their efficacy, especially on child-bearing women. These conspiracies were politically motivated aiming to discredit other pharmaceuticals globally. This vaccine politicking also cascaded down to the Zimbabwean child-bearing women of the Johane Masowe eChishanu Church. The study focuses on investigating the politics of vaccines and their affects on child-bearing women in the Johane Masowe eChishanu Church in Zimbabwe. The phenomenological perspective was used in investigating the responses of the child-bearing women of this Church. The article concludes by recommending that the government should put in place mitigation measures on the impact of some retrogressive beliefs and practices, which may dissuade some followers from the Johane Masowe eChishanu Church from accessing lifesaving medical interventions such as COVID-19 vaccination.

Contribution: This study brings to the fore the politics of vaccines and their affect on child-bearing women in the Johane Masowe eChishanu Church in Zimbabwe.