Zambia settles for AstraZeneca, Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine

Zambia has settled for the AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccines to be administered in the first pillar of the program, a senior government official said on Friday.

Minister of Health, Jonas Chanda, said the first pillar of the initial vaccine to be rolled out under the COVAX mechanism will initially involve the AstraZeneca vaccine and subsequently the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.

The Zambian minister said the vaccines for the second phase will come through donations from cooperating partners but will be subject to approval by the country’s medicines regulator.

“The third pillar will cover the rest of the eligible adult population who may not be covered under pillar one and two through government making available funds for vaccines, and also the participation of the private sector,’’ he said.

He reiterated that the vaccine program will be done on a voluntary basis in a phased manner and on pilot basis.

Meanwhile, the country recorded 265 new cases in the last 24 hours out of 5,876 tests done bringing the cumulative cases to 87,583.

Three people died during the same period bringing the total deaths to 1,194 while 123 patients were discharged bringing the total recoveries to 84,018.