JOHANNESBURG (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 11th February, 2021) Zimbabwe gears up for the coronavirus vaccine rollout anticipating 200,000 donated doses from China next week and a commercial batch in early March, while also receiving donation and purchase offers from Russia and India.
The announcement was made on Wednesday. According to Zimbabwe's Information Minister Monica Mutsvangwa, the Chinese donation will arrive on February 15, followed by the initial commercial batch of 600,000 doses in the first week of March.
"Meanwhile, efforts to procure other Covid-19 vaccines such as the Sputnik V from Russia, among others, are underway. India, like China, has also offered a donation and an option to purchase commercially and modalities for this offer are still being worked out," Mutsvangwa told a briefing.
The same day, Zimbabwe's Secretary for Information Nick Mangwana tweeted a Bloomberg article, which reported about Russian diamond producer Alrosa's plans to buy and donate Russian-made Sputnik V shots to Angola and Zimbabwe to help their vaccination campaigns.
VACCINATION NOT TOP PUBLIC CONCERN?
In total, Zimbabwe has allocated $100 million to procure enough vaccine doses to inoculate 10 million citizens � which amount to 60 percent of the population � to achieve herd immunity.
To this end, Zimbabwe has also expressed interest in participating in the African Union's COVID-19 vaccination program.
"The Covid-19 Vaccines will be administered to citizens freely. The initial consignment will cater for frontline workers, the elderly and other vulnerable groups in Zimbabwe. The administration of the Covid-19 vaccinations in Zimbabwe will be on a voluntary basis," Mutsvangwa said at the briefing.
According to the minister, it is "imperative" to accelerate the acquisition of vaccines in order to halt a potential third wave amid circulation of the new strain.
"The country is saddled with a second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic that has manifested in high infection and death rates countrywide, with the compounding factor being the new strain which is more infectious and virulent," she stated.
In a telephone chat, Zimbabwean journalist Simon Muchwema told Sputnik that his country, while challenged politically, may be "the best in Africa" in terms of vaccination infrastructure. Still, he believes that these are not vaccines that top people's concerns in Zimbabwe.
"When it comes to vaccination infrastructure we are the best in Africa ... Zimbabwe will use the same infrastructure and strategy they used against the H1N1 flu strain. People on the ground aren't that much worried about Covid-19. In Zimbabwe there's poverty. I don't think people are worried about the efficacy of the vaccine. They will participate in the vaccination drive but one thing I know Zimbabweans want money to survive," Muchemwa said.
The health ministry reports that the nation is fully prepared for the vaccination campaign.
"As the President said Zimbabwe is more than ready. We will be receiving vaccines on Monday. According to the Minister of Information front line workers will be the first to be vaccinated and the elderly. Cases are coming down in Zimbabwe," Ministry spokesperson Donald Mujiri told Sputnik.
The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), in turn, warns African Union nations to carefully think over all factors for a vaccination campaign to succeed.
"Member states must have the proper facilities. They must ensure that they have the proper storage to protect the integrity of vaccines. They must have capacity of which it may be a problem. We also need volume, storage space and warehousing, ancillaries, PPE, syringes and cotton etc. If members do not have this then our efforts of bending the curve in Africa will be a wonder," Africa CDC senior science advisor Dr Nicaise Ndembi said.
The expert stressed that none should be left behind during the campaign, which should have proper coverage and involve "as many people as possible."
Ndembi also listed a few logistical challenges.
"I hope member states have enough storage facility at airport for when most vaccines disembark. Their distribution from the airport into the central medical stores for further storage is very important. There's need to conform to the regulatory standards with fridges of 60 to 70m degrees," Ndembi continued.
EX-MINISTER DOUBTS PREPAREDNESS
While officials report high readiness, ex-Health Minister Dr Henry Madzorera doubted it in a comment to Sputnik.
"I'm not sure about government's preparedness at the moment. They keep reassuring us that they are prepared and that they are doing the right thing. They keep on saying they will follow all the normal procedures and protocols for introducing the vaccine in the country, but we are not aware of their rollout plan. We don't know where they are going to do their field studies on this new vaccine," Madzorera said.
According to the former minister, it is vital that the government rolls out the vaccine under stringent scientific supervision. This, he explains, would help document the vaccine's efficacy, its side effects and other adverse events that may emerge.
"Vaccines may behave differently in different populations. So even if the vaccine was tested in China we need to know how it is going to behave in Zimbabwe on Zimbabweans. That information we don't have but they keep re-assuring us that they have everything under control and they will follow the proper procedures as we have done in the past. It's a problem, how good is their word? Their word is not very good. They don't have a track record of fulfilling their word," he argued.
Madzorera also expressed concerns about logistics and training.
With a population of 14.6 million, Zimbabwe currently has its coronavirus cases at 34,864, including 29,471 recoveries and 1,364 deaths.
