With Botswana’s vaccination rates slipping to the lowest in the region and the country’s Covid-19 infection rate the worst in the region, President Mokgweetsi Masisi’s reset agenda faced a devastating crash and burn this week, after a South African citizen who was forced to take a mandatory Covid-19 booster jab at the Tlokweng border post died at Gaborone Private Hospital –Sunday Standard investigations have revealed.
Under President Masisi’s reset agenda, the term Covid-19 “herd immunity” came to signify the endgame: saving lives, which is the number one item on the reset agenda and a point when enough Batswana would be protected from the virus so the country could be rid of the pathogen and get back to normal.
Herd immunity is a form of indirect protection from infectious disease that can occur with some diseases when a sufficient percentage of a population has become immune to an infection, whether through previous infections or vaccination, thereby reducing the likelihood of infection for individuals who lack immunity.
“The combination of the global pandemic – Covid-19 and the catastrophic economic recession it has caused the world over, dictates that we revisit our problem solving, strategies, that we regroup, that we reset” said Masisi when launching the reset agenda.
Curious turn
Curiously, after leading the continental race towards herd immunity for most of 2021, and procuring enough vaccines to inoculate the entire population, Botswana’s Covid-19 infection rate for 2022 is the highest in the region.
Not helping the situation, Botswana’s inoculation rate has slipped to the lowest in the region, and data suggests that the herd immunity threshold is not attainable — at least not in the foreseeable future, and perhaps not ever – forcing government to impose mandatory vaccination for all returning citizens at ports of entry. The shift in Botswana’s vaccination agenda and approach coincided with an upsurge of social movements that questioned government’s mandatory vaccination, placing Masisi’s reset agenda on the crosshairs of civil society..
According to the international Telegraph online, Botswana was last week the only country in the region besides Zimbabwe, which has not recorded a decline in Covid-19 infection rates. Scientists had initially suggested that herd immunity could be reached when about 70 per cent of the population is vaccinated. According to Our World in Data, Botswana has fully vaccinated slightly less than 60% of its population. 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 to reach the 70% threshold. 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 lower than that of Botswana is Namibia.
During the last week reported, Namibia averaged about 669 doses administered each day, At that rate, it will take a further 747 days to administer enough doses for another 10% of the population. Botswana’s vaccine hesitancy is expected to spike this week 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.
Botswana climbs down
Fearing the backlash, government has climbed down and announced that Covid-19 vaccination is no longer mandatory at the country’s ports of entry. Meanwhile, the family of the deceased man, identified in a statement shared with Sunday Standard, as Bongani Mbonani, confirmed his death. The statement shared by the family exclusively with the Sunday Standard, stated: “It is with heavy hearts that we announce the passing of Bongani Mbonani, a South African citizen who was forced to take a booster shot at the border 2 weeks ago. Bongani arrived in the country on 4 March. He was in good health and happy to make a 2-day visit to drive his friend, Slikur to the inaugural Creative Arts Workshop hosted by Carnido in Gaborone. Unfortunately, as per the new law, he was forced to take a booster shot at the border in order to enter Botswana. Shortly after taking the forced booster, he suffered a brain haemorrhage presumably caused by the vaccine as there was no other explanation as to why that would have happened so spontaneously.
“Sadly he has been in a coma ever since until yesterday evening when to the dismay of his family. The family is devastated at the loss, which is compounded by the fact that this was preventable and brought on by the mandatory booster shot.” Bongani’s family implored the Botswana Government to lift the mandate before more lives are tragically lost. “The family is assisted in their plight by the Botswana Truth and Freedom Organisation, a pro choice organisation fighting for the Individual right to choice and freedom,” the statement said.
Responding to Sunday Standard queries, the government through the Ministry of Health and Wellness, Dr. Christopher Nyanga confirmed: “Yes the ministry is aware of the death of the patient you refer to. The patient passed on yesterday (17 March 2022). However, the ministry is currently unable to share any details about the patient, lest that offends clauses governing patient privacy and disease confidentiality.”
Asked if the Ministry was taking responsibility for the fatal incident, Nyanga said “the ministry regrets the death of the patient but is currently unable to make further comments given the sensitivity of the matter at hand.”
Prior to Bongani’s death, his mother Masula Mbonani had instructed lawyers at Dingake Law Partners to ensure that government is held accountable for his post Covid-9 vaccination complications. In a letter addressed to the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Health and Wellness, dated 11 March 2022, the lawyers stated that they had been “retained by Masula Mbonani, the mother to Mr Bongani Mbonani for various advisory legal services. The matter arises from our client’s hospitalization at Gaborone Private Hospital following a mandatory booster vaccination (“the vaccine”) which was administered on client on the 4th March 2022 at Tlokweng Border Post upon his entry into the country. The vaccine was administered against client’s will and on the basis of a statuary instrument No.12 of 2022 (“the Statutory Instrument).”
The lawyers said on being administered the vaccine, their client developed complications arising from or related to the administration of the vaccine and was subsequently hospitalized. Needless to say, the Health Port officials at the border were negligent in many material respects, including but not limited to; failure to enquire into the medical history of client,” the lawyers said.
The lawyers also accused health officials of failing to satisfy themselves as “to the probable reaction of client upon administration of the vaccine which were or ought to have been reasonable foreseeable” They claimed that the officials failed to put in place measures to deal with adverse effects and or reactions from the vaccine which were ought to have been reasonable foreseeable.
“In administering the vaccine without client’s consent and where such consent was obtained, if at all, was obtained by coercive means, threats and or inducement and in so far as the vaccine was administered unlawfully as being in contravention of the Public Act, Cap. 63:01 of the Law of Botswana (“the Act) and WHO Health and Standards and Regulations, which are part of our law,’ the lawyers stated.
Government climbs down
Meanwhile in a statement released on 18 March 2022, Ministry of Health and Wellness spokesperson, Nyanga explained that the definition of being fully vaccinated in Botswana will no longer include a booster short for those entering the country or international travel. He said having completed the primary vaccine series will be considered sufficient for one to be allowed entry, without the need to present a negative PCR test result.
“For those who will be partially vaccinated, or not vaccinated at all, they will be required to present a negative 72 hour PCR test result and in addition, undergo COVID-19 testing at port of entry, at own cost,” he said. If negative, Nyanga said, they would proceed to enter the country. If positive, he said, they would be isolated in the district of the port of entry, at own cost and allowed to proceed into the county only after recovery.
“Please note that these changes now allow partially vaccinated or unvaccinated people to enter the country, if they comply with the required testing requirements,” said Nyanga. He added that, “It is only when one is not fully vaccinated and also not willing to undergo covid-19 testing at the port of entry, that they will be charged and fined or taken to a court of law.”
Why Botswana may not reach her immunity
The death of the South African citizen is expected to give a second wind to rumors and conspiracy theories about COVID-19 and vaccines raising the level of Botswana’s vaccine hesitancy.
Government’s decision to backtrack from mandatory vaccination at ports of entry is also expected toresult in a further slowdown in Botswana’s vaccination rates. Even under the best case scenario, where Botswana reached the 70% threshold in 351 days, the country would still not attain herd immunity.
There has recently been a change in outlook over herd immunity with scientists pointing out that the level of immunity among the population also changes with the variants, especially the more transmissible strains.
Sarah Otto, a University of British Columbia professor, said Covid-19 ‘s reproductive rate is hard to pinpoint, which makes it difficult to establish a herd immunity target. Otto is an expert on the mathematical models of pandemic growth and control in the university’s zoology department.
The reproductive rate is the number of additional people infected by a single person with COVID-19, which has also changed because of the variants, she said. Botswana’s vaccination rate currently lags behind the Covid-19 reproductive rate, which makes herd immunity almost impossible.
