Malawi receives 277 080 AstraZeneca doses

 Malawi on Saturday received a consignment of 277 080 doses of the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccines provided by the Japanese Government through the Covax Facility.

The doses, which arrived through Kamuzu International Airport (KIA) in Lilongwe, are part of a consignment of assorted Covid-19 vaccines the country is expected to receive in the first quarter of the year.

In this first quarter, Malawi is expected to receive 396 000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine, 388 000 doses of the Johnson and Johnson (J and J) vaccine and 714 000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine.

Following their arrival, the 277 080 AstraZeneca doses are expected to be made available in all health centres across the country from today, according to an update from the Ministry of Health.

Reads part of the update: “The vaccines will be available in all vaccination sites from Monday and all those that are due for the second dose of AstraZeneca are encouraged to visit the nearest vaccination site for the second jab.”

According to the update, the Covid-19 vaccination exercise continues to progress well; hence, the public being urged to go for the vaccination exercise to reduce the risk of developing severe disease, hospitalisation and deaths.

The Ministry of Health said it will continue to lobby Malawians to go for the Covid-19 vaccines.

President Lazarus Chakwera and Vice-President Saulos Chilima led the vaccine rollout on March 11 2021 and initially, Malawi plans to vaccinate 60 percent or 11 million of the country’s critical population by December this year.

A majority of vaccines the country has been receiving have been made available through the Covax Facility, a global initiative intended to secure equitable access to vaccines.

The facility is led by the World Health Organisation and supported by partners such as the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations and the United Nations Children’s Fund. n