Tanzania, which has been criticized for dealing with the pandemic, has no plans to launch vaccines for Covid, said the health minister.
The comments come days after President John Magufuli warned authorities against purchasing vaccines, saying they could harm people without giving evidence.
Critics accused him of minimizing the threat posed by the virus.
Millions of people have already been inoculated in many countries after vaccines received emergency approval.
Vaccines are rigorously tested in trials involving thousands of people before being evaluated by health regulators. They examine all data on the safety and efficacy of vaccines before approving them for use in a broader population.
Last month, the World Health Organization (WHO) urged Tanzania to consider inoculating its population.
Tanzania is one of the few countries in the world that does not publish data on Covid-19 cases. This last happened in May, when about 500 cases and 20 deaths were recorded. The following month, Magufuli declared Tanzania “free from coronavirus”.
Last month, the president said that some Tanzanians had traveled abroad to get the vaccine, but “ended up bringing us a strange coronavirus”. The comments were seen as an apparent admission that the virus may be circulating in the country.
At a news conference on Monday, Health Minister Dorothy Gwajima said: “For now, the government has no plans to receive the Covid vaccine that is being distributed in other countries.”
The minister asked Tanzanians to take precautions and use traditional medicine as a way to deal with the coronavirus, although its effectiveness in fighting the virus has not been scientifically proven.
A blogger shared photos of Dr. Gwajima and other officials inhaling steam and taking a mixture of herbs.
Waziri wa Afya, Dk. Dorothy Gwajima at naibu wake, Dk. Godwin Mollel, wakinywa dawa ya asili pamoja na kujifukiza mbele ya waandishi wa habari jijini Dodoma Jumatatu February 1, 2021, wamewahamasisha wananchi kutumia tiba mbadala ili kukabiliana in magonjwa mbalimbali. pic.twitter.com/oOklD2qN94
– Haki Ngowi (@Hakingowi) February 1, 2021
Dr. Gwajima also warned the media not to disclose unofficial information about the coronavirus or any disease. The warning comes after the Catholic Church said it observed an increase in requiem masses, blaming funerals for an increase in coronavirus infections.
The US Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) advised against all trips to Tanzania and updated its alert to level four, which means that coronavirus transmission in the country is “high or increasing rapidly”.
Many African states are buying vaccines through an international scheme called Covax, but some also plan to negotiate directly with pharmaceutical companies.
The Covax scheme aims to make it easier for the poorest countries to buy vaccines amid growing concerns that the wealthiest nations are buying them and practicing “vaccine nationalism”.
South Africa, which has the highest number of Covid-19 cases and deaths on the continent, received its first shipment of vaccines on Monday – the AstraZeneca vaccine from a manufacturer in India.
About 1.2 million frontline health workers would be the first to be vaccinated, said President Cyril Ramaphosa.
More than 1.4 million people in South Africa contracted the virus and 44,164 died, according to Johns Hopkins University research.
African states that have started to launch vaccines include Egypt, Guinea, Morocco and Seychelles.
Originally published