VACCINE EXPECTED BEFORE END OF WEEK - ACTING PM

LOBAMBA – Government is expecting delivery of some COVID-19 vaccines before the end of the week.

This was said by the Acting Prime Minister, Themba Masuku, in a report he tabled in the House of Assembly yesterday. This was in response to a motion moved by the MPs last week Friday, calling for government to review the extended lockdown. Masuku stated that ideally, government would have preferred that the easing of restrictions be preceded by the arrival of the COVID-19 vaccine. He said a vaccination plan had been completed and ready for execution. “We are currently experiencing delays in the delivery of vaccines, but we expect to receive some consignment before the end of the week,” said Masuku. He stated that they needed to ensure that the vaccination of health workers would have begun within the next two weeks. Masuku said vaccinated health workers would immediately begin to cover all frontline workers and those who were vulnerable in the population.

Vaccination

The acting PM said priority would be given to those with comorbidities. He said they would want to continue to discuss vaccination roll-out plans with all relevant stakeholders. Masuku said government would continuously review the situation weekly and they would intensify the reviews in view of the contributions from members of the House. “We plead for patience and understanding during this difficult time of an unpredictable and deadly pandemic,” said Masuku. Meanwhile, Masuku said it was important to outline that it was not correct that government intended to kill the economy by effecting restrictions.

He said many sectors of the economy were currently operating and only those with a scientifically proven impact on the transmission of the virus were more restricted. “These are sale of alcohol and allowing gatherings, including schooling,” he said. Masuku submitted that government had taken calculated risks to carefully balance the health and economy. “Despite that earlier projections set our economy to shrink by 6.7 per cent, it eventually contracted by 2.4 per cent due to our methodological interventions,” said Masuku.

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