Zimbabwe is working on stepping up vaccinations in identified Covid-19 hotspots given the arrival of 500000 more doses on Saturday, with another 2 million doses expected at the end of the week, to help combat the strain of the virus in the country.
The Deputy Minister of Health and Child Care, Dr. John Mangwiro, disclosed that the latest batch of doses, bought by Treasury, would go a long way to cover all the areas classified as hotspots in the country. With the present number of vaccines, It is enough for 250 000 people to get both doses.
“The vaccines will be distributed to all the border towns, the areas that have been classified as hotspots, tobacco auction floors, cotton sales floors, GMB markets and market places like Mbare Musika, Renkini in Bulawayo and others. The Ministry of Finance has said after the two million doses arrive next week, we will receive more the following month” he said.
The Minister of Finance and Economic Development, Mthuli Ncube, speaking on the arrival of the vaccines noted that more than seven million doses will have been procured by the end of next month as the government is boosting efforts to fight the pandemic. It is believed that about US$70 million resides in Government coffers for the purchase of more vaccines to enhance the country’s efforts.
“In terms of our vaccination program, this is yet another addition to the roadmap for the acquisition of vaccines. We have received 500 000 today, by end of next week we will receive another two million, two weeks after that we want to bring another 1.5 million. We want to carry on so that by end of August we bring in another 3.5 million vaccines again from China” he said.
