Foreigners will qualify for Nam vaccines
JEMIMA BEUKES
WINDHOEK
Foreigners who fall in the categories prioritised for the Covid-19 vaccine roll-out will also be vaccinated in Namibia, health minister Dr Kalumbi Shangula confirmed yesterday.
Shangula’s remarks come days after neighbouring South Africa announced that their vaccine roll-out will be limited to South African citizens.
“We have a lot of foreigners in our healthcare such as nurses and doctors who are helping our people and providing service to our people. So, we cannot say people cannot be vaccinated because they are foreigners. They will be vaccinated,” Shangula said.
US embassy sources vaccines
Meanwhile, the American embassy in Namibia is said to be in the process of acquiring vaccine doses for its staff members.
Sources privy to the workings at the embassy said the process is at an advanced stage.
The embassy’s public affairs officer Walter Parrs told Namibian Sun that it remains their top priority to protect and promote the health, safety and security of their workforce to carry out their mission on behalf of the American people.
“Due to operational sensitivity, the department is not publicly sharing specific details of the timing or logistics of the deployment of the Covid-19 vaccine for the department of state’s workforce at this time,” Parrs said.
MTN donation
During an official address on Monday evening, South African president Cyril Ramaphosa said neighbouring countries - including Namibia - will be beneficiaries of Covid-19 vaccines worth over R375 million donated by telecommunications giant MTN.
“MTN, which is one of our companies that operates across a number of countries on the African continent, has made a donation of $25 million to procure seven million vaccines, which will be made available to countries on the African continent within a matter of weeks.
“I would like to applaud MTN for this generous donation and I call upon private sector companies to follow the example of MTN,” Ramaphosa said.
It is important that citizens of the neighbouring countries benefit from the donation because they interact with South African citizens, he said, adding that the arrival of the vaccine in South Africa was a milestone.
No force
The South African president then assured that no individual would be forced to take the vaccine or be deprived the right to travel in and out of South Africa or admission to universities and other institutions for refusing to be vaccinated.
Ramaphosa said the vaccines will not be administered in dark corners.
He also said South Africa will receive an allocation of vaccine doses through the African Union (AU), which has been negotiating with manufacturers to secure vaccines for the entire continent on a pooled basis.
Through the African Vaccine Acquisition Task Team, the AU has secured one billion vaccine doses for the continent.
Seven hundred million of these will come from the global Covax facility and 300 million have been facilitated by the task team.
- [email protected]
WINDHOEK
Foreigners who fall in the categories prioritised for the Covid-19 vaccine roll-out will also be vaccinated in Namibia, health minister Dr Kalumbi Shangula confirmed yesterday.
Shangula’s remarks come days after neighbouring South Africa announced that their vaccine roll-out will be limited to South African citizens.
“We have a lot of foreigners in our healthcare such as nurses and doctors who are helping our people and providing service to our people. So, we cannot say people cannot be vaccinated because they are foreigners. They will be vaccinated,” Shangula said.
US embassy sources vaccines
Meanwhile, the American embassy in Namibia is said to be in the process of acquiring vaccine doses for its staff members.
Sources privy to the workings at the embassy said the process is at an advanced stage.
The embassy’s public affairs officer Walter Parrs told Namibian Sun that it remains their top priority to protect and promote the health, safety and security of their workforce to carry out their mission on behalf of the American people.
“Due to operational sensitivity, the department is not publicly sharing specific details of the timing or logistics of the deployment of the Covid-19 vaccine for the department of state’s workforce at this time,” Parrs said.
MTN donation
During an official address on Monday evening, South African president Cyril Ramaphosa said neighbouring countries - including Namibia - will be beneficiaries of Covid-19 vaccines worth over R375 million donated by telecommunications giant MTN.
“MTN, which is one of our companies that operates across a number of countries on the African continent, has made a donation of $25 million to procure seven million vaccines, which will be made available to countries on the African continent within a matter of weeks.
“I would like to applaud MTN for this generous donation and I call upon private sector companies to follow the example of MTN,” Ramaphosa said.
It is important that citizens of the neighbouring countries benefit from the donation because they interact with South African citizens, he said, adding that the arrival of the vaccine in South Africa was a milestone.
No force
The South African president then assured that no individual would be forced to take the vaccine or be deprived the right to travel in and out of South Africa or admission to universities and other institutions for refusing to be vaccinated.
Ramaphosa said the vaccines will not be administered in dark corners.
He also said South Africa will receive an allocation of vaccine doses through the African Union (AU), which has been negotiating with manufacturers to secure vaccines for the entire continent on a pooled basis.
Through the African Vaccine Acquisition Task Team, the AU has secured one billion vaccine doses for the continent.
Seven hundred million of these will come from the global Covax facility and 300 million have been facilitated by the task team.
- [email protected]
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