Health Minister Dr. Edwin Dikoloti
The Pan Afrikanist Watchman
Effective Monday 25th of October 2021, the Ministry of Health and Wellness transited the COVID-19 vaccination to Phase three of the National Vaccine Deployment Plan.
Making the announcement, Ministry spokesperson Dr. Christopher Nyanga attributed the development to the arrival of vaccine consignments notably, the Johnson and Johnson, Moderna, and Astra Zeneca in recent days and weeks.
Phase three covers those aged between 18 and 29 years. This means that anyone aged 18 and above in Botswana, is with effect from Monday, officially allowed to visit any of the vaccination sites for COVID-19 vaccination.
Dr. Nyanga extended his Ministry’s gratitude to the hundreds of thousands of Batswana who have over the months frequented vaccination sites whenever a call to do so was made.
As of 22 October 2021, 764 254 adults in Botswana out of the total targeted 1 531 498 people, had received at least a first dose of COVID-19 vaccines.
It was expected that respective District Health Management Teams (DHMTs) would start communicating their internal programmes on Phase three vaccination in earnest so that by Thursday, all districts would have fully transited.
Dr. Nyanga reiterated in the same announcement, the ministry warned the public against the temptation of making choices among the Covid vaccines since all of them are safe, effective, and have passed tests that were conducted on them, by various international and local scientific structures.
Meanwhile, the Botswana Harvard AIDS Institute Partnership (BHAIP) in partnership with the Ministry of Health and Wellness (MoHW) is conducting a study to establish the efficacy and tolerability of AstraZeneca on COVID-19 variants.
The study is conducted in Gaborone, Francistown, and Maun and was prompted by reports that recipients developed blood clots after taking the Astra Zeneca vaccine in France, Spain, Italy, Germany, and South Africa.
