Donors give Malawi 1.5 million Covid-19 vaccines which Chakwera announced

The doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine to vaccinate 20% of Malawi population which President Lazarus Chakwera mentioned last Sunday is a donation courtesy of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance under the Covax Global Vaccines Facility, British High Commission says.

In a statement released in Wednesday, British High Commissioner  David Beer said Malawi is among first beneficiary countries to receive  vaccines whose global roll-out is due to start this month.

He said Malawi will received 1 476 000 doses of  the AZD1222 vaccine developed by AstraZeneca, a British-Swedish pharmaceutical in partnership with Oxford University.

“Covid- 19 is a global pandemic that needs global cooperation for a solution.,” said Beer.

He added: “ No country is safe until the virus is under control everywhere. This is why the UK is  proud to stand with Malawi and other countries  so that those who need vaccines can get them.”

Beer said through Covax, to which the UK has committed over half a billion pounds, “Malawi is due to receive almost one and half million doses that can protect frontline workers and the most vulnerable, and to start to bring the pandemic under control.”

President Chakwera announced that the first consignment of the vaccine doses was set to arrive at the end of February for about 3.8 million people.

Front-line workers, the elderly, and those with underlying conditions will be prioritized for the jabs, Chakwera told the nation has also said in a statement “Malawi urgently needs access to vaccination – which unfortunately is unlikely to happen before April 2021, and even then, only for a portion of its people. By that time, the pandemic might have already peaked, and killed many who could have been protected by vaccination.”

Chakwera said the jabs will be administered starting next month.