The government has assured the nation that they have enough resources to vaccinate 60 percent of the population, with US$100 million set aside for the Covid-19 vaccination roll out programme.
Finance and Economic Development Minister, Professor Mthuli Ncube said through the Afrexim Bank, government is going to ensure that more than 60 percent of the country’s population is vaccinated.
“The vaccine will be free for all Zimbabweans. We have got our own resources to the tune of $8,3 billion which is the US$100 million. The resources are there and will be spent as we go along. We also have donations coming in. The private sector has also pledged to play its part,” said Prof Ncube.
“Part of the money is from savings from the 2020 National Budget. Right now we are already showing indication of a surplus of US$50 million for 2020 Budget although an audit is still underway.”
Prof Ncube said there was also an additional US$7 million to cover logistics for the roll out of the vaccination programme which started two weeks ago with frontline workers.
Meanwhile, over 30 000 frontline workers have been vaccinated in Zimbabwe according to the Ministry of Health and Child Care.
The government is set to get 984 000 AstraZeneca vaccinations between March and May 2021 from the COVAX scheme according to Global Vaccination Alliance.
This is on top of the 400 000 donated by China and 75 000 from India.
