05 Feb 2021

Health and Wellness minister, Dr Edwin Dikoloti says the government has identified different platforms for the procurement of the COVID-19 vaccines.

Giving an update through Botswana Television on Thursday evening, Dr Dikoloti said payments approximating US$10 million had already been made in order to secure the various vaccines.

He said as part of the broader strategy of fighting the pandemic, government had embarked on an initiative to acquire and quickly deploy safe and secure vaccines for the citizens and residents of Botswana.

He said the programme was in line with the ministry’s expanded programme on immunisation as well as the Public Health Act of 2014 regarding the prevention of the spread of immunisable diseases and their re-emergence.

Dr Dikoloti said the platforms engaged in acquiring the vaccines were COVAX facility through which government had secured enough doses to cover its frontline workers and the African Medical Supplies platform through African Union.

“The Africa Vaccine Acquisition Task Team established by the AU has been able to secure a provisional 270 million doses for Africa, from which Botswana will receive its allocation,” he said.

The minister said it was heartening that through Africa’s continental platform, MTN, a leading mobile network, had donated a total US$25 million worth of vaccines to support the African Union’s COVID-19 vaccination programme.

“The donation will help secure up to seven million doses of COVID-19 vaccines, which are intended to cater for frontline workers across the continent,” he said, adding that as part of the AU, Botswana stands to benefit from the donation.

Dr Dikoloti said considerable work had been done to ready the country to receive vaccines, once the allocations were announced and distributed. In terms of the law and policy, he said coordination structures have been set up to ensure the ethical, equitable and timely distribution of the vaccines across the country.

He said the country aims to reach population impact coverage, with the administration or distribution of vaccines be done in phases, revealing that the initial phase will however, focus on the health system strengthening and economic activity revival. “This consideration requires that there be prioritisation of key populations, such as health care workers and those that participate in essential service. The idea is to reach them first, so that they can be ready to spread around the country and attend to the rest of the population,” said Dr Dikoloti.

In accordance with the Public Health Act of 2014, he said the COVID-19 vaccines should be administered free of charge with intended universal coverage of the population. “In order to successfully reduce the transmission and contain the pandemic, it will be imperative to ensure that the entire population is vaccinated against the pandemic,” he said.

Dr Dikoloti strongly advised that the developments towards acquisition of the COVID-19 vaccine should not lead the public into complacency with the dire consequences of failing to protect themselves against the disease.

“The vaccine has potential to reduce transmission and contain the pandemic, it is not a cure, but a protection with limitations. With the increasing COVID-19 case disease burden, we will have to continue to adhere to the COVID-19 safety protocols of wearing a face mask, washing hands, social distancing and sanitising where possible,” he said.

Dr Dikoloti reassured the public that more communication on the deployment and vaccination plan will be shared within a reasonably short period of time, reiterating that the main goal of COVID -19 vaccine deployment and vaccination plan was to save lives and mitigate societal and economic impact by reducing transmission and mortality due to the viral infections.

He stressed that government cannot successfully combat the pandemic on its own, saying ‘I am pleased to share that we are engaging with the wider private sector and other partners to facilitate the availability of the vaccines to all of us’.

He said the private sector had received government’s pleas for collaboration and had come up with ideas on how it can contribute to protect its employees, their families and communities around it.

Meanwhile, the COVID-19 Botswana continues to record increasing numbers of positive COVID-19 cases and deaths. The latest update by the Deputy Coordinator of the COVID-19 Presidential Taskforce, Professor Mosepele Mosepele has revealed that since the outbreak of the pandemic to date, 163 people have died of COVID-19 related illnesses.

Professor Mosepele said the country had recorded 21 273 COVID-19 positive cases, of which 19 574 have recovered, while 1 536 were still active. He said 765 of the active cases were recorded since January 30.

He revealed that in total, the country had conducted 692 131 COVID-19 tests, of which 531 071 were done locally, while the other 161 060 were done at border posts. Ends