15 Aug 2021

Government will continue to work round the clock to ensure availability of COVID-19 vaccines in order to protect the nation from the global pandemic.

This was said by President Dr Mokgweetsi Masisi in a televised national address in Gaborone on Friday.

President Masisi said government had invested heavily in vaccine procurement and had so far spent over P390 million.

“Of this total amount, by February 2021, government had paid over P100 million through the COVAX and the Vaccine Acquisition Trust (AVAT) facilities. So far Botswana has received a total of 658 690 doses of COVID-19 vaccines comprising the Sinovac, Astra Zeneca, Pfizer and Johnson and Johnson vaccines,” he said.

President Masisi said over 1 million Johnson and Johnson, 500 000 of Moderna, 350 000 Sinovac, 100 000 Covaxin and 81 900 Pfizer vaccine doses were still expected.

He said the total of 361 200 doses of the Sinovac procured would comprise 300 000 doses bought bilaterally and 61 200 through COVAX.

“Furthermore, government also engaged directly with vaccine manufacturers to increase the chances of securing vaccines for our people. In this regard, we have signed agreements with Moderna to secure 500 000 doses of their vaccines,” he said.

Dr Masisi said government had another agreement with Bharat of India for 100 000 doses of COVAXIN vaccine expected to be delivered in a few weeks.

“We have recently signed heads of terms with Pfizer for two million doses and hope to conclude the agreement soon,” President Masisi said.

Stating that acquisition of COVID-19 vaccines was a challenge, he thanked development partners such as China and India for assisting with 200 000 doses of Sinovac and 30 000 of Covishield respectively.

Another donation, 81 900 doses of Pfizer vaccine from the US government, was expected within days, he said.

Dr Masisi said government was anticipating a significant amount of vaccines to be delivered between August and December.

“Botswana is simultaneously negotiating for additional doses from several companies. The negotiations include vaccines for children under 12 years old. Our plan is to pre-purchase doses for children even before the clinical trials are completed,” he added.

Meanwhile, President Masisi said he was aware of public concerns about vaccine availability as COVID-19 continued to claim more lives every day.

“Evidence of deaths is conspicuous and worrisome to all of us. As more lives are lost, people become more helpless and distraught. I know that people become impatient with intervention measures employed and desire vaccines the most,” he said.

He said he was also aware that the majority of Batswana were eagerly awaiting their first shot of COVID-19 vaccine and that those already vaccinated wanted their loved ones inoculated as well.

The President said he had seen the social media #VaccinateBotswana campaign which he said depicted how the nation was yearning for a faster pace of the vaccination drive.

While it would appear to some that government was not doing enough to procure vaccines, he  said,  ‘the opposite is true’.

“I want to assure you that the shortage of vaccines is only temporary and has been caused by an unexpected high demand across the globe that far exceeds global manufacturing capacity,” he explained. ENDS