The Pan Afrikanist Watchman

A donation of 300, 000 doses of the Astra Zeneca vaccine from Germany arrived today, Friday 1st of October 2021 at Sir Seretse Khama International Airport (SSKA).

This is the second consignment following the more than 101, 760 doses of Astra Zeneca that arrived in Gaborone on 18th September 2021 also being a donation from Germany to Botswana.

In a press statement to mark the arrival of the donation today, German Ambassador Margit Hellwig-Boette said she sincerely hopes that this donation will help to keep up the speed of vaccination in Botswana.

Around 23% of the less than 3 million population has been vaccinated already. That is more than most African countries have delivered so far.

But there is no reason for slowing down because the lifting of the state of emergency (which was effected on October 1) and going back to ‘business as usual may mean that Covid cases can rise again.

Only speedy vaccination and respecting the Covid protocols will give protection to the citizens.

Germany is one of the co-founders of COVAX and the Access to COVID-19 Tools (ACT) Accelerator.

Ambassador Hellwig-Boette reiterated that Germany is the second biggest donor and has pledged 2.2 billion Euros which is equivalent to 29.3 billion BWP, to ACT.

In addition, Germany is supplying 1.3 million vaccine doses to countries that, at this moment in time, need them most. Germany strongly believes that vaccines against COVID 19 are a global public good.

“We want to contribute to better access to these vaccines all over the world. Nobody can be safe until everybody is safe!

“My thanks go to COVAX and UNICEF for having assured timely delivery of the vaccine doses and to the Ministry of Health and Wellness for keeping the pace of the vaccination campaign”, the German envoy said.

A spokesperson of the Ministry of Health and Wellness Dr. Christopher Nyanga announced in a press statement that the ministry will roll out the vaccines to all areas across the country after undergoing due diligence.