Anti-vaxxers make no sense where deliberate inoculation was mooted

I was unlucky this year: drew the short stick and joined the many millions who suffered a respiratory illness at the end of the year and into the new one. Three years of Covid-19 running rampant across the globe, we are no longer surprised by its emergence from time to time. Variants, environmental factors, international travel, the relaxation that comes naturally after living with an illness for a long time — all of them have contributed to our general acceptance. Covid-19 is here to stay.

To be fair, I have no way of knowing if I just caught a garden-variety flu or went another round with the 21st Century’s disease du jour. It appears that, even though things have improved, they have not improved that much.

Tanzania is no longer as nuts as North Korea trying to deny that Covid-19 exists at all. However, we do not really test for the disease. Our medical personnel have become adept at diagnosing and treating not-Covid, which is generally an outpatient phenomenon these days. And, yet, I could swear we were told to get vaccinated just a month or two ago? It is all very confusing. I wondered: Where did Tanzanian anti-vax sentiment really come from, and why did it take such a hold on us?

We vaccinate quite religiously, like many countries in the world. Across generations we have the scar to prove that as we once got jabbed to prevent a variety of illnesses. We’re not great at safe childbirth but, once a child arrives, most medical facilities…