Health minister Dr Kalumbi Shangula said Namibia has procured enough Covid-19 vaccines and continues to increase the availability and accessibility to its population to boost the vaccination campaign.

Shangula urged Namibians to get vaccinated as Namibia has sufficient doses of the vaccines.

Part of the donated vaccines includes 75 000 doses of AstraZeneca from the Netherlands on 8 August 2021, 20 000 doses of Sinopharm from Zimbabwe on 31 August, 15 000 doses of Sputnik V (component 1) from the government of Serbia on 2 September with the delivery of component II of Sputnik V vaccine from Serbia still to come.

“We also expect to receive 318 720 doses of AstraZeneca from Germany, 100 620 doses of Pfizer from America and 30 000 Hyatt Vax from the United Arab Emirates,” detailed Shangula.

Namibia has so far bought 40 800 doses of AstraZeneca vaccines procured through the Covax facility and received them on 10 September 2021.

“These are the remainder of the 108 400 doses which government bought earlier. There are still 350 000 doses of Sinopharm vaccine procured from the manufacturer, of which the date of delivery is to be communicated,” stated Shangula.

Shangula noted that there is false information being circulated alleging that Namibia has received expired vaccines.

“I want to debunk these lies and state categorically here that there is absolutely no truth in such allegations. The nation must remain assured that all the vaccines delivered to Namibia, whether through donations or those that we have procured with government recourses are within their shelf life and are safe for use,” added Shangula.

Members of the public are warned that spreading false information about Covid-19 is an offence. As such, anyone who spreads false information about Covid-19 will face the full wrath of the law.

Justice minister Yvonne Dausab encouraged people to get vaccinated and in instances of uncertainty, consulting relevant institutions like the health ministry would be the appropriate thing to do.

“We want to maintain the numbers to remain as low as they are at the moment and we need to improve how we conduct ourselves in social settings,” stated Dausab.

So far, 232 051 first doses of Sinopharm and AstraZeneca have been administered while 142 127 Namibians have been fully vaccinated since 19 March 2021.

- psiririka@nepc.com.na