25 Jul 2021

President Dr Mokgweetsi Masisi has called on Batswana to be united in the fight against COVID-19 and desist from pointing fingers. 

Speaking Friday during a visit to Sekoma Clinic, which is one of the vaccination centres for the Mabutsane Sub-district, he  said playing blame games could only lead to more people dying. 

The President reiterated that government had reset its priorities to put human life first. 

“When the pandemic started, there was need for government to reset and put the lives of Batswana above developments, for developments are useless without people to enjoy,” he said. 

Pleading for understanding, Dr Masisi explained that some planned development projects have had to be shelved. 

Dr Masisi also called on the nation to intensify skills development as Botswana made efforts to diversify the economy away from minerals. 

He commended Batswana for generally being cooperative and embracing vaccination against COVID-19.

The President thanked  presidential COVID-19 task team members for availing their expertise when the nation needed them most. For his part, the team’s scientific advisor Dr Mogomotsi Matshaba pleaded with parents to take care of children while schools were still closed. 

“Unlike initially when the pandemic affected the older generation, of recent it has been found that even kids were affected to the extent that we were forced to close schools because there were many cases there. So parents should ensure they protect and monitor children at home while they are still on vacation,” he said. 

He said the fact that children could be infected without showing any signs might prove deadly to their parents. 

Briefing President Masisi and his entourage, the sub-district’s senior medical officer Dr Thatayaone Lekhutile said since vaccination started in April, 1 099 people had received their first shot while 1 000  were fully vaccinated. 

He said in the age category currently being targeted, 464 had already been inoculated. 

Dr Lekhutile said the numbers of people who turned up for vaccination were encouraging. 

On major challenges in the area, he mentioned shortage of vehicles and low numbers of medical staff as many were infected and in isolation. 

Concerning vaccine side effects,, Dr Lekhutile said only one adverse reaction case had been registered without any deaths. Ends