Malawi's president gets corona-virus jab

ZOMBA, Malawi

Malawi’s President Lazarus Chakwera has received the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine in the eastern city of Zomba, saying he chose to be among the first to be vaccinated to show that it is safe.

Malawi has received 1.4 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine under the Covax agreement.

The first 360,000 doses arrived last week, with the rest expected by the end of May.

President Chakwera received his jab at a public ceremony attended by a cross section of people including diplomats, the clergy, religious leaders, prominent local politicians and the press.

Former president Joyce Banda and her husband also received their vaccines today, as did the Speaker of Parliament Catherine Hara among others.

President Chakwera said the AstraZeneca vaccine was found by local scientists to be safe, effective, and suitable.

“In fact, as a show of good faith, I and others on this platform have volunteered to be the first to be vaccinated here so you that you can see that the vaccine is safe,” he said.

After being relatively spared by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, Malawi is now being swept by a new, fast-spreading wave of the disease that is quickly overwhelming the healthcare system. In the first few weeks of January 2021, the number of people confirmed with the disease has doubled every four to five days.

The government of Malawi has identified priority groups who will be among the first to receive the COVID-19 vaccine. These include health care workers, including those working in the private sector, who are at higher risk of COVID 19 infection than the general population due to the nature of their work, and more likely to be affected by COVID-19.

Also included in phase one are police, immigration, Malawi Defence Force, prison warders, prisoners, teachers, those 60 years and above, and people with underlying conditions.

The World Health Organization country office in Malawi has been working with Expanded Program on Immunization of the Ministry of Health from the outset in all activities that led to successful application for COVID19 vaccine from the COVAX Facility. 

The government has confirmed 32,614 COVID-19 cases with 1,077 deaths. - Africa