28 Sep 2022

 Batswana have been praised for heeding the call to vaccinate against COVID-19 in order to protect themselves and others.

Speaking during a media briefing in Gaborone Tuesday, Minister of Health, Dr Edwin Dikoloti.said approximately 1.7 million people had taken at least one dose of the  COVID-19 vaccine since  commencement of the vaccination campaign in March last year.

“This amounts to more than 70 per cent of the Botswana population and as a result of these efforts, many Batswana’s lives have been saved,” he said.

On children’s vaccination,  Minister Dikoloti said so far, more than 200 000 in the 12-17 age group had received at least one dose of the Pfizer vaccine.

For the 5-11 age group, over 35 000 had already received their first dose of the paediatric Pfizer vaccine, he said..

Stressed that the battle against COVID-19 was not yet over, Dr Dikoloti  urged all to ensure that they were vaccinated so that ‘no one remains unprotected’.

He called upon parents to not only allow their children aged five to 11 and older to be vaccinated, but to also go for booster shots when due.

Meanwhile, Dr Dikoloti has reiterated the assertion his ministry’s made earlier this week that under no circumstances could expired vaccines be used.

“This will be unethical and irresponsible, to say the least. I want to assure Batswana that all vaccines used in this country are potent and safe for the human body,” he said.

For his part, Botswana Medicines Regulatory Authority (BoMRA) CEO, Dr Stephen Ghanie said the organisation had approved a request to extend the shelf life of the Pfizer vaccine from six to nine months.

He explained that the move was not a new concept saying BoMRA had also taken the responsibility to check for safety, quality and authenticity.

BoMRA would not compromise the lives of Batswana by using expired vaccine, he stated.

WHO country representative, Dr Josephine Namboze, explained that extension of vaccine or any medicine’s shelf life was a normal and acceptable medical practice.

It did not mean that the vaccines or medicines would have expired, she said.Dr Namboze clarified that the extension was not peculiar  to Botswana but was permitted in other countries which had bought similar batches of vaccines.

“The shelf-life extension is a well-known practice in the pharmaceutical industry. It is accepted globally if the provided stability data is adequate to demonstrate that a medical product retained its quality attributes throughout the proposed period,” said Dr Namboze.ENDS