Minister of Health and Social Services, Dr Kalumbi Shangula on Thursday announced that Namibia is expecting 250 000 doses of Sinopharm to arrive on Saturday from China.
Shangula made the announcement during the 31st COVID-19 public briefing where he noted that the doses were bought by the Namibian government from China, and will be distributed countrywide between Saturday and Sunday, to allow for vaccination to resume by Monday.
Namibia has been running low on vaccines after the country used up a large portion of the 197 200 doses received in March this year. This led to the suspension of vaccination and closure of a number of vaccine sites in at least four districts including Windhoek.
As of Wednesday, a total of 132 784 people had received the first dose while 31 833 were fully vaccinated.
Shangula said the country is expecting an additional delivery of 40 800 doses of AstraZeneca from the Covax Facility as from next week, noting that the exact date of arrival of the vaccines has not been communicated yet.
Government, he said, has also procured 333 333 doses of Johnson and Johnson from the Africa Union Platform and these doses will be delivered in a staggered fashion from August to December.
Furthermore, the country will receive a donation of 168 000 doses of Johnson and Johnson vaccines from the United States of America via the Covax Facility between July and September 2021.
“We appreciate the fact that the international community is responding positively to our request for assistance in combating COVID-19. We have received support from Finland, Germany and Belgium through the European Union Civil Protection Mechanism. The United States of America has pledged 168 000 vaccine doses. We express our great appreciation for this expression of solidarity,” the minister said, adding that the ministry is further encouraged and incentivised by the support from the local people especially support from the private sector to boost the services at health facilities.
Shangula said in the meantime the ministry is identifying new vaccination sites in order to improve access as more people are now responding positively to vaccination.
“We have noticed great interest among the public to get vaccinated. We are pleased with this development. We therefore assure the public that we shall do everything possible to make sure that vaccines are available,” he said.
Source: Namibia Press Agency
