GOVERNMENT TO ABANDON SOME 2021 PROJECTS

THE Vice President, Slumber Tsogwane, says the government will forgo some of the development projects to buy the Covid-19 vaccine.

The VP said this over the weekend when the first consignment of vaccine purchased by Botswana arrived from South Korea. Botswana received 33 600 doses of the 100 000 Astrazeneca vaccine it had ordered.

Tsogwane said the vaccine consignment gave him a sigh of relief and hope that lives will be saved. He said if anything the president of this country is determined to forgo some of the development projects to save lives.

“We just passed the budget and we are hopeful that the mineral sector will do better but in the meantime we will have to abaondon some projects if favour of vaccine procurement. We have ordered 100 000 doses which cost around USD3 million and we are expecting more to come in the coming weeks. The roll out will be done based on age and underlying conditions of people and the front-liners. Even us political leaders, we’ll get the jab, we are just following the Ministry of Health and Wellness risk plan,” said Tsogwane

Ambassador of the European Union, Jan Sadek, said this vaccine delivery was a result of the efforts of the Botswana Government, which funded the vaccine by its own means. Sadek expressed his hopes that the arrival of the vaccine would really be an exit strategy from the pandemic.

“The arrival of COVAX vaccines is also a result of an international effort, where many countries have contributed financially. All of us here today represent countries and governments that are backing the initiative and have invested billions in it. This has financed the mechanism itself and also the distribution to the low-income countries. It is only by international solidarity that we can get out of the pandemic. No one will be safe until everyone is safe. I would like to thank also the United Nations, WHO and UNICEF, for their important role and great efforts in this, globally and here locally,” said Sadek.