Covid-19: Vaccines arrive in Africa

• Can Zimbabwe afford a jab?
• Other African states start inoculations this month
• Another long wait for handouts

By Daniel Kachere

While other African countries have procured vaccines, mostly for their frontline workers and most vulnerable citizens with inoculations starting this month, Zimbabwe is battling to provide basics like personal protective equipment (PPE) and a living wage for its healthcare workers.
Ventilators, the lifesaving machines for hospitalised Covid-19 patients, are scarce.
Public hospitals are generally deathtraps, only getting bare facelifts as the coronavirus pandemic threat loomed in March last year through various donations from the philanthropic world.
Basic drugs to ease pain and treat common diseases are in short supply while a long-drawn labour dispute between Government and its employees over remuneration has caused massive disruptions.
Meanwhile, Covid-19 infections have alarmingly shot up in the country, with many losing loved ones.
Unable to offer any other solution – the Government of Emmerson Mnangagwa has imposed a stiff lockdown. But they are being challenged in court by various organisations, from members of the legal fraternity to businesses operating in the informal sector due to their failure to cushion industry, families and individuals.
In high density suburbs, people are openly rebelling against lockdown rules in order to scrounge around and earn some money to put food on the table.

Vaccine
The only hope – for millions that now feel helpless – is for one of the vaccines from around the world to find its way to the Southern African nation.
Unfortunately, they may have to wait a long time before that happens.
Across the border in South Africa, that country’s health minister, Zweli Mkhize, this week announced that his country would be receiving 1 million doses of the much-needed vaccine this month.
Nigeria in West Africa is also set to get at least 100 000 doses of the Pfizer and BioNTech approved Covid-19 vaccines by the end of January.
This was announced by the executive director of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), Faisal Shuaib, during the country’s Presidential Task Force (PTF) on Covid-19 briefing on Tuesday.
The country is also set to receive 42 million doses of the vaccine through the COVAX facility which will be adequate to cover 20 percent of the population.
In East Africa, Kenya’s health minister Mutahi Kagwe on Wednesday announced that the country was expecting to start receiving 24 million doses of the Covid-19 vaccine from February.
The drug, according to AstraZeneca, requires normal refrigerated conditions, making it suitable for the African continent.
Besides these three, countries such as Morocco have also ordered the drug through the COVAX facility.

What is COVAX?
Coordinated by Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) and the WHO, COVAX is one of three pillars of the Access to Covid-19 Tools (ACT) Accelerator, which was launched in April 2020 by the World Health Organisation (WHO), the European Commission and France in response to Covid-19.
It brings together governments, global health organisations, manufacturers, scientists, private sector, civil society and philanthropy, with the aim of providing innovative and equitable access to Covid-19 diagnostics, treatments and vaccines.
Their aim is to ensure that people in all corners of the world get access to Covid-19 vaccines once they are available, regardless of their wealth.
On December 18 the COVAX Alliance said it had agreements in place for nearly two billion doses, roughly doubling its supply, with the first deliveries due in early 2021.

Crisis
The Zimbabwean Government has since imposed a Level Four lockdown to try and contain the disease but its efforts are being hampered by number of problems.
Just yesterday, nurses at Sally Mugabe hospital downed tools demanding adequate PPE following the death of a matron due to Covid-19.
In his Z$422 billion 2021 budget, Finance and Economic Development Minister Mthuli Ncube allocated Z$54.7 billion to the Ministry of Health and Child Care, an amount that constitutes 13 percent of the National Budget.
Under normal circumstances, such an allocation would be fairly reasonable, falling short of the African Union’s (AU) April 2001 Abuja declaration which prescribed an allocation of at least 15 percent of their annual budget to health.
But Zimbabwe is facing an unprecedented health crisis.
This week the Health Ministry received Z$7 billion “to motivate and employ more health workers, procure testing kits, PPE, sundries, sanitisers and to improve infrastructure”.
But with Health and Child Care Deputy Minister Dr John Mangwiro telling the media this week that “there is no area that’s called the hotspot, it’s now the whole country”, the amount is just but a drop in the ocean.

Handouts
World Health Organisation (WHO) director-general Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus a fortnight ago made it clear that all the countries in the world must ensure that vaccines were availed to everyone at risk, not just in rich and self-financing countries.
He appealed for US$4 billion for the purchase of Covid-19 vaccines that would be distributed to lower and middle-income countries through the Covax vaccine facility.
But despite these measures; what is the Government of Zimbabwe doing on its own to avert a catastrophe besides trying to lock everyone inside?
So far, China and the United Kingdom have pledged to assist Zimbabwe with vaccines, but does this mean that the country’s leaders have to relax and wait for the two countries to fulfil their pledges?
Through the United Kingdom ambassador to Zimbabwe, Melanie Robinson, Britain offered to vaccinate 20 percent of Zimbabwe’s vulnerable population against Covid-19 when the British vaccine is ready.
However, it is not clear when this vaccine will be ready while the virus continues ravaging.
Dr Agnes Mahomva, Chief Co-ordinator of the national response to the Covid-19 pandemic in the Office of the President and Cabinet, told Nhau that Government still stands with its earlier position regarding procurement of a vaccine, referring this publication to her earlier comments to the local press.
“Preparations for deployment of vaccines were underway through a multi-sectoral taskforce working in collaboration with the WHO.
“Zimbabwe will only rollout approved Covid-19 vaccines that have been analysed and found to be effective and safe for use. Government is guided by science when deciding which vaccines Zimbabwe will approve and use,” she said.
For now, Government’s message is for its citizens to lock themselves inside.
As of yesterday, Zimbabwe had 18 675 confirmed cases, including 12 083 recoveries and 446 deaths.
Fifty school heads have reportedly tested positive for Covid-19 at a time teacher unions are lobbying Government to stop the continuation of O-Level examinations. Nhau/Indaba