Zimbabwe is expecting 2.5 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines this August through direct purchase, while a further 3.5 million doses would be delivered next September under the COVAX facility, a worldwide initiative aimed at providing equitable access to vaccines, Cabinet said.
To date, the country has received a total of 6.785 million vaccine doses, of which the government says more funds are needed to continue purchasing the doses.
“Progress towards the desired 60 percent herd immunity will require mobilisation of additional resources for the procurement of more vaccines over and above the US$100 million resource envelope,” said the Minister of Finance and Economic Development, Professor Mthuli Ncube while presenting the Mid-Term Fiscal Review Statement last week Thursday.
Prof Ncube said out of the US$100 million that was budgeted for purchasing the vaccines, US$93.2 million had been spent.
“To date, US$93.2 million has been spent towards procurement of 11.8 million doses of vaccines and 7.2 million syringes. This has facilitated the delivery of 5.5 million doses and 5.2 million syringes,” he said.
The breakdown of these vaccines according to the finance minister was as follows:
6.2 million doses of Sinovac vaccines were purchased, 5 million doses of Sinopharm were also bought, of which on July 29, 2021, another batch of 700 000 Sinopharm vaccines were delivered into the country.
China donated 500 000 doses of Sinopharm vaccines, India donated 35 000 doses of Covaxine vaccines and Russia donated 50 000 Sputnik V vaccine doses.
From China Pharmaceutical Foreign Trade Corporation, Prof Ncube said 1.2 million syringes were acquired, then 3 million syringes from Sinopharm and 1 million syringes from Sinovac.
As at August 3, 2021, a total of 832 884 Zimbabweans have been fully vaccinated with both jabs while 1 707 671 had received their first vaccine doses.
To date, Zimbabwe has recorded 112 435 cases, 81 570 recoveries and 3 676 deaths.
Cabinet also said it approved certain strategies to accelerate the vaccination programme and achieve herd immunity by the end of 2021.
There is to be increased provision of transport and fuel for the outreach teams and the government will also review the payment model of allowances for the vaccinators to be based on the number of persons vaccinated.
The Health Services Board also wrote to the Treasury seeking concurrence to recruit retired nurses to participate in the vaccination programme.
“Using non-medical staff such as data capturers to free nurses so that they concentrate on vaccination; and The extension of the vaccination programme to clinics in higher and tertiary learning institutions.”
