News / National
Mthuli Ncube, Chiwenga clash over Covid-19 jabs
28 Jul 2021 at 07:37hrs | Views
DISCORD is reigning supreme in President Emmerson Mnangagwa's administration over the ongoing Covid-19 vaccination programme, with the Vice President Constantino Chiwenga-led health ministry and treasury issuing conflicting figures that show a discrepancy of up to 600 000 doses.
Watchers say the discrepancy reveals the chaos surrounding the procurement and the inoculation exercise.
Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube on Sunday, while receiving a one million Sinovac vaccines batch at Robert Mugabe International Airport, said treasury had used US$93 million dollars out of the US$100 million dollars facility to buy 12 million doses from China.
Ncube said of the 12 million doses that have been purchased, only 5,5 million have been delivered so far while the remainder of 6,5 million doses are expected to arrive in the next two months in batches, as has been the case since the vaccination program started.
Ncube said: "Our programme for buying the vaccines is going very well. We are expecting 1,5 million doses later this week.
"So far, we have received 5,5 million doses of the 12 million that we have fully paid from China. We have used about US$93 million for all the 12 million doses including the syringes."
However, vaccine figures from the ministry of health shown during the parliamentary meeting Tuesday, show that a total of 5, 285 000 doses including donations have been delivered in the country so far.
By Ncube's figures, before deducting donations, this leaves a variation of 215 000 jabs.
The ministry of Health, which appeared before Parliament Health Committee Tuesday, said only 4,9 million doses outside donations have been delivered to date.
By Ncube's figures, this leaves a discrepancy of 600 000 jabs.
As at 26 July 2021, 1 491 493 had received their first dose of the vaccine while 687 216 had been fully vaccinated.
Zimbabwe aims to inoculate at least 10 million people by December after which the country can attain herd immunity.
Since the advent of Covid-19 in March last year, 3 173 people have succumbed to the deadly virus.
Watchers say the discrepancy reveals the chaos surrounding the procurement and the inoculation exercise.
Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube on Sunday, while receiving a one million Sinovac vaccines batch at Robert Mugabe International Airport, said treasury had used US$93 million dollars out of the US$100 million dollars facility to buy 12 million doses from China.
Ncube said of the 12 million doses that have been purchased, only 5,5 million have been delivered so far while the remainder of 6,5 million doses are expected to arrive in the next two months in batches, as has been the case since the vaccination program started.
Ncube said: "Our programme for buying the vaccines is going very well. We are expecting 1,5 million doses later this week.
"So far, we have received 5,5 million doses of the 12 million that we have fully paid from China. We have used about US$93 million for all the 12 million doses including the syringes."
By Ncube's figures, before deducting donations, this leaves a variation of 215 000 jabs.
The ministry of Health, which appeared before Parliament Health Committee Tuesday, said only 4,9 million doses outside donations have been delivered to date.
By Ncube's figures, this leaves a discrepancy of 600 000 jabs.
As at 26 July 2021, 1 491 493 had received their first dose of the vaccine while 687 216 had been fully vaccinated.
Zimbabwe aims to inoculate at least 10 million people by December after which the country can attain herd immunity.
Since the advent of Covid-19 in March last year, 3 173 people have succumbed to the deadly virus.
Source - newzimbabwe.com
