Covid-19: Mozambique will have six million vaccine doses – Minister

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Covid-19: Mozambique will have six million vaccine doses – Minister

2:55 CAT | 04 Dec 2020

FILE PHOTO: For illustration purposes only. [File photo: UNICEF/UN0200242/Singh ]

Minister of Health Armindo Tiago said on Thursday that Mozambique will be entitled to six million doses of Covid-19 vaccine under the rules defined in the global COVAX initiative for equitable access to inoculation.

Armindo Tiago was speaking in the Assembly of the Republic in response to criticisms from the Democratic Movement of Mozambique that the 2021 Economic and Social Plan and the State Budget make no reference to any Covid-19 vaccination plan.

“From the calculations we made, Mozambique would receive about six million doses of vaccine in this mechanism,” corresponding to 20% of the country’s estimated 30 million population, Minister Tiago said.

The Minister of Health told parliament that the number of doses – in case of final approval of a vaccine by the World Health Organization (WHO) – results from the percentage imposed under the referred mechanism for each of the initiative’s member countries.

Armindo Tiago said that the Mozambican executive submitted its estimation of the country’s needs in terms of vaccines under COVAX on November 27.

“Currently, the Ministry of Health is defining the requirements and conditions for the definition of the groups to be vaccinated, and also the vaccination strategy process,” the minister added.

The government, he continued, has already set up a plan for the acquisition, administration and monitoring of any possible effective vaccine, and the structure set up in the National Vaccination Program (PNV) will be used for its administration.

“Once a safe, effective and qualified vaccine is available from the WHO, Mozambique will be able to carry out the vaccination, according to the National Vaccination Program,” Minister Tiago stressed.

The minister advised against “false illusions” about a quick solution for Covid-19, noting that preliminary results were announced for four of the 11 vaccines that are candidates for the cure in Covid-19 in November.

“It was not foreseeable, for us, that in a short space of time it would be possible to develop vaccines,” he said.

The COVAX mechanism relies on, among other partners, the Global Vaccine Alliance (GAVI), which is led by former Portuguese prime minister, José Manuel Durão Barroso.

Mozambique has registered 132 deaths from Covid-19 among 15,866 cases, of which 88% have fully recovered.

Source: Lusa