Botswana will either have to destroy or donate more than two and a half million doses of various Covid -19 vaccines with an estimated value of more than P5 billion Pula. This is about 10% of Botswana’s recurrent budget for 2021/22 which is P56 billion.
Botswana has procured more than 4,7 million doses of various Covid vaccines, currently has more than 3 million doses in store with a shelf life of less than nine months while it is projected to administer about 300 000 doses, about 10% of the current vaccines sitting in storage.
The following are the vaccines that Botswana has procured and have now been fully delivered: A total of 100 800 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine purchased through the COVAX facility; A total of 500 000 doses of the Moderna vaccine purchased through a bilateral arrangement. The last consignment arrived on 31 December 2021; More than 2 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine purchased through both COVAX and bilateral arrangements. All these doses have been delivered in the country. The last delivery was made on 10 January 2022; Botswana had also purchased 100 000 doses of the COVAXIN vaccine from India. The vaccine was delivered in the country on 22 December 202i; A total of 1, 346, 400 doses of the Johnson and Johnson vaccine purchased through the AVAT facility. All these doses have also been delivered in the country. The last consignment was delivered on 24 December 2021; Botswana had also purchased a total of 665 694 doses of the Sinovac vaccine through both the COVAX facility and through a bilateral arrangement. The last delivery was made in the country on 16 December 2021. In addition to these doses that the Botswana Government purchased, some vaccine donations were also received from the People’s Republic of China, Republic of India, Federal Republic of Germany, United States of America, Republic of France, Republic of South Africa and the Moderna Company.
This means Botswana has so far bought 4, 712 894 doses of various Covid-19 vaccines and this excludes donations from a number of countries.
According to the Reuters Botswana Covid-19 Vaccine Tracker, as at Friday this week, Botswana had administered at least 1, 445, 394 doses of Covid 19 vaccines since the country’s vaccination programme started.
This means the country has more than 3 million vaccine doses in storage. Sunday Standard investigations have confirmed that Botswana paid $ 29 per dose, about P330 per dose for the 500 000 doses it received in December 2021.
The Johnson & Johnson not for profit price before the vaccine was approved stood at $ 10 per dose about P110 per dose. Sunday Standard could not establish how much Botswana paid for the 1, 346, 400 Johnson & Johnson doses. Pfizer on the other hand charges $ 23.15 per dose about P 265 for each of the more than 2 million doses bought through COVAX.
The country’s vaccination rate has however slipped to the slowest in the region. According to Botswana’s latest vaccination rates, Botswana averages about 1,316 doses administered each day. At this rate, Botswana will administer about 300 000 doses between now and December. This means about 3 million vaccine doses will be languishing in government refrigerators in December 2022.
None of the vaccines however have a shelf life of more than nine months. This means Botswana will either have to destroy or donate about 3 million vaccine doses before December.
The Food and Drug Administration recently authorized extending from six to nine months the shelf life for refrigerated Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine stored at 2-8 degrees Celsius (about 36-46 degrees Fahrenheit), based on data submitted by the company.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines both can last up to six months if they’re stored properly. The Pfizer vaccines, however, require ultra-cold storage – approximately -158 degrees Fahrenheit – to last that long. The Pfizer shelf life has also been extended to 9 months.
Botswana’s vaccine hesitancy is expected to spike in the coming weeks following the death of a South African citizen recently at Gaborone Private Hospital (GPH) after he was reportedly forced to take a mandatory Covid-19 booster jab at the Tlokweng border post.
Fearing the backlash, government has climbed down and announced that Covid-19 vaccination is no longer mandatory at the country’s ports of entry.
At the time of going to press, Botswana had not updated its recent vaccination rate from last week, but they are expected to have dropped further.
Sunday Standard investigations have revealed that during the last week reported, Botswana averaged about 1,316 doses administered each day. At this rate it will take about a year- 351 days to administer enough doses for another 10% of the population. This is a drop of more than 100% from last year. In the last week of October 2021, Botswana was administering enough doses to cover 10% of the population in 42 days which was a decline from the first week of October when the vaccination rate was enough to cover 10% of the population in 34 days. The only country in the region which currently has a vaccination rate that is slower than that of Botswana is Namibia.
