Pamela T Munyoro
A senior health ministry official from the World Health Organisation on Thursday said Namibia has approved an upfront payment of US$1.74 million.
The country of over 2.5 million people has recorded over 14,000 coronavirus cases.
Namibia severely depends on its mining and tourism which has been hit terribly by the pandemic.
Namibia does not qualify for subsidised vaccines under the COVAX scheme unlike other African countries because it is classified as an upper-middle-income country, like neighbours South Africa.
Ben Nangombe, Executive Director in the Health Ministry, told Reuters that Namibia plans to make the payment as early as next week, giving it the option to buy coronavirus vaccines for 20 percent of its population.
“We are not putting all our eggs in one basket, we will look at other options even at bilateral level to see whether we will be able to acquire these vaccines through other means. But for now we are committed to the COVAX facility,” Nangombe said.
“We would want to get a product that is easy to manage, easy to roll out and easy to administer.”
We hope with these payments a vaccine will be available as soon as possible
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