07 Feb 2021

Government has already made payments of approximately P110 million towards securing various COVID-19 vaccines,  Health and Wellness minister, Dr Edwin Dikoloti has revealed.

Speaking on Botswana Television recently, Dr Dikoloti said the payments were part of government’s  initiative to acquire and quickly deploy safe and secure vaccines for Botswana citizens and residents. 

He said platforms engaged in acquiring the vaccines were COVAX facility, through which enough doses had been secured to cover frontline workers, and the African Medical Supplies platform through the African Union (AU). 

“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 over  P270 million worth of vaccines to support the AU’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. 

Dr Dikoloti said considerable work had been done to ready the country to receive vaccines.

In terms of the law and policy, he said coordination structures had been set up to ensure the ethical, equitable and timely distribution of the vaccines across the country. 

The country, he said,  aimed to reach population impact coverage, with the administration or distribution of vaccines done in phases with the initial one focusing on 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, 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. 

However, Dr Dikoloti warned that the developments towards acquisition of the COVID-19 vaccine should not lead the public into complacency. 

“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 assured the public that more information on the deployment and vaccination plan would be shared further explaining that its main goal was to save lives as well as mitigate societal and economic impact by reducing transmission. 

“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 minister said the private sector had heeded government’s pleas for collaboration and had come up with ideas for contributing such as protecting its employees, their families and communities in its environs. 

Meanwhile, the presidential COVID-19 task force has reported that Botswana continued to record increasing numbers of positive COVID-19 cases and deaths.

In his latest update, task force  deputy coordinator Professor Mosepele Mosepele revealed that since the outbreak of the pandemic, 163 people had died of COVID-19 related illnesses. 

Professor Mosepele said the country had recorded 21 273 COVID-19 positive cases, 19 574 recoveries while 1 536 were still active. 

He said 765 of the active cases were recorded from January 30. 

In total, the country had conducted 692 131 COVID-19 tests, 531 071 locally and 161 060 at border posts, Professor Mosepele said. Ends