13 Dec 2020

Government has no immediate plans to develop the COVID-19 vaccine in Botswana, the Assistant Minister of Health and Wellness Mr Setlhomo Lelatisitswe has said.

Responding to a question in Parliament, Mr Lelatisitswe said the development of a vaccine was not only a long and complex process but also required highly specialised skills, technology and resource investment which the country did not have. 

However, he indicated that Botswana was among the countries that have joined the global COVID Vaccine pool procurement Facility (COVAX), which would give the country an opportunity access to COVID-19 vaccine once approved and available in the international market.

He explained that the rationale for the decision to participate was taken as a prudent step to ensure that the country was not left out in accessing the novel COVID-19 vaccine.

He said the vaccine might most likely be limited by the short supply due to insufficient manufacturing capacity to meet the unprecedented global demand, hence the decision to participate by Botswana.

Mr Lelatisitswe also noted that the vaccine was not budgeted for in the financial year 2020/2021 as the procurement was unanticipated.

Furthermore, the Assistant Minister said the need to expand existing infrastructure and procure additional equipment in health facilities was not envisaged.

He said it was anticipated that the existing infrastructure and equipment would be adequate to assist in the management, storage and deployment of the vaccines.

Mr Lelatisitswe said the relevant structures in the ministry would continue to monitor the situation and apply appropriate measures when the need arose.

He explained that at initiation of the vaccine, supply may not be immediately adequate to immunise everyone, and said public health strategies would be employed for priority targeting.

He said the World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines had identified different target priority groups, in the process giving regard to ethical and other such access considerations.

He said such considerations included frontline health and care workers at high risk of infection, older adults and those people at high risk of death because of underlying conditions like heart disease and diabetes.

Bobonong Member of Parliament, Mr Lucas Taolo had wanted to know if there were any efforts to develop Coronavirus vaccine in Botswana and any efforts to procure the vaccine once approved.

He also asked if there was a budget set aside for developing the vaccine locally or procuring it once available to international market.

He also asked whether there would be a need to expand existing infrastructure and procure additional equipment in health facilities and the distribution criteria and priorities of the vaccine. ENDS