Botswana is back on track to be the first country in Africa to wholly vaccinate its citizens. The latest information from Our World in Data (OWID) and the American New York Times newspaper has revealed that Botswana has the third most advanced Covid -19 vaccine programme in Africa after Zimbabwe and Togo.
The reports indicate that Botswana has a Doses per 100 people score of 3.1% against Togo’s 3.4% and Zimbabwe’s 4.4%. The three countries have scored the highest per capita vaccination in Africa.
While the two reports were updated on May 28, at the time of going to press, the Sunday Standard had established that the Botswana vaccination programme had actually been underreported.
While both OWID and New York Times tallied Botswana’s total vaccination at 71, 500, Botswana had in fact vaccinated almost double that number. A total of 132, 782 people had been vaccinated against COVID – 19. This places Botswana at a Doses per 100 people score of more than 5% which is the highest in Africa.
The country’s campaign to be the first country in Africa to wholly vaccinate its citizens will go back on track today (Sunday) when it receives 38 400 doses of AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine this afternoon.
The Sunday Standard last week expressed concerns that Batswana who have received the Indian AstraZeneca shot may not receive the second jab within the recommended four to 12 weeks because the Indian government has restricted export of Covid-19 vaccines from its giant manufacturing hub. Botswana will also receive 19 890 doses of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine on Thursday 3 June 2021. The procurement of these vaccines, which were bought through the COVAX facility, was facilitated by UNICEF Botswana.
Botswana has reached agreements to get enough COVID-19 vaccine injections to treat the country whole adult population. The country is currently expecting the biggest consignment of 1.1 million doses from U.S. manufacturer Johnson & Johnson.
Last month Botswana received 60,000 doses of the COVISHIELD vaccine, which is manufactured by the Serum Institute of India. COVISHIELD is produced in cooperation with the makers of the AstraZeneca vaccine. The country further received an additional 200,000 doses of the Sinovac vaccine from China. Should the country receive the 1.9 million vaccine doses it hopes for, it could become the first African nation to be fully vaccinated.
Our World in Data (OWID) is a scientific online publication that focuses on large global problems such as poverty, disease, hunger, climate change, war, existential risks, and inequality. It is a project of the Global Change Data Lab, a registered charity in England and Wales, and founded by Max Roser, a social historian and development economist. The research team is based at the University of Oxford.
Their data comes from government health authorities such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and other authoritative sources, as attributed.
