Executive Director in the Ministry of Health and Social Services, Ben Nangombe, said Namibia is expecting a total of 290 800 COVID-19 vaccine doses from different suppliers by end of July.
In a press statement issued on Monday, Nangombe highlighted that the country expects 40 800 doses of AstraZeneca from the COVAX facility, 150 000 Sinopharm doses from Sinopharm pharmaceutical company in China and 100 000 Sputnik Light doses from Gamaleya Institute in Russia.
He said, by mid-July the country expects a further 120 000 AstraZeneca doses from AstraZeneca supplier in Europe and 250 000 Johnson & Johnson doses from the African Vaccine Acquisition Task Team (AVATT) by early August.
Namibia currently has limited vaccine doses available and as of 24 June, the country had administered 135 058 doses out of the 197 200 doses received.
“The level of vaccine uptake in the regions across the country is uneven. The ministry has been redistributing vaccine doses from slow-moving sites to those with faster uptake especially to regions with high case incidence and deaths such as Khomas, Erongo, Omaheke, Karas and Hardap,” Nangombe said, adding that the ministry will continue to vaccinate as many people as possible with the first dose while the majority of the second doses will be given as soon as the next consignment is received in July.
This, he said is in accordance with the World Health Organisation guidance in case of limited vaccine supply.
“It should be noted that the first dose of the vaccine already offers some degree of protection against severe disease, hospitalisation and death. Thus, vaccinating as many people as possible with the first dose will lead to protection of the larger proportion of the population against severe illness, hospitalisation and death,” the ED explained.
He further highlighted that the supply of COVID-19 vaccination by manufacturers has been constrained due to high demand for the vaccination globally and Namibia is working with neighbouring countries in attempt to jointly acquire COVID-19 vaccine doses.
“Since many vaccines have a relatively short shelf life, they are being procured in a stage fashion to ensure that only manageable quantities are on hand to avoid wastage and products expiring before they are used up,” he said.
Source: Namibia Press Agency
