NO RUSH FOR COVID-19 VACCINES
By Brian Mwale- Health Minister Jonas Chanda says government will not rush into importing covid-19 vaccines into the country.
Dr Chanda says government is cautious and does not want to endanger the lives of Zambians by rushing into bringing vaccines that fail to work on people and have side effects.
He says President Edgar Lungu has been very categorical to ensure that government protects the safety of Zambians through ensuring the vaccine is safe.
Dr Chanda says his ministry will ensure that Zambia is not used as a dumping ground for every sort of vaccine that comes into the country.
He says government is engaging very closely with the private sector including the foreign missions accredited to Zambia, saying that a number of ambassadors have approached the ministry wanting to bring in the vaccine into Zambia.
Dr Chanda says Zambia only has one covid-19 vaccine program which is being led by the Zambian government.
He said the private sector and foreign missions and any other player will have to go through government in order to assure quality and safety of the Zambian people.
Meanwhile, the Health Minister has revealed that Zambia has recorded 1037 new Covid-19 cases and 12 deaths.
Addressing the media in Lusaka today, Dr. Chanda revealed that the results are from 6,173 tests conducted in the last 24 to 72 hours.
He said Lusaka and the Copperbelt provinces each recorded 5 deaths.
The Minister said the Covid fight needs a multi sectoral approach with government’s major concern being the community spread.
He however said the Ministry of Health has made headways in conducting contact tracing.
Dr. Chanda also encouraged Zambians to notify their closest contacts when they test positive for Covid because it is key in management of the pandemic.
And Ministry of Health Director Clinical Care Alex Makupe said only 122 of the 2,002 ventilators in the country are functional.
Dr. Makupe noted that the Bomedical engineering department is working hard to ensure that the non-functional ventilators are repaired.
He however stated that the ventilators are not the only gadgets used to administer oxygen but only used in critical situations.
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