Botswana Could Be First African Country to Vaccinate Entire Adult Population

GABORONE, BOTSWANA - Botswana's health authorities say they have arranged to receive nearly 2 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines, enough to cover the entire adult population. If every adult takes the vaccine, Botswana could become the first country in Africa to be fully vaccinated against the coronavirus.     

In a televised address Monday, Mosepele Mosepele, deputy coordinator of the Botswana Presidential COVID-19 Task Force, said the country reached agreements with vaccine manufacturers to supply doses to cover 1.9 million people. Botswana has an adult population of 1.6 million, but noncitizens are also eligible for the vaccine, Mosepele added. Botswana received 60,000 doses of the Covishield vaccine from India and the COVAX facility last month. Mosepele said the uptake of the vaccine has been impressive, with 47,160 receiving the jab since March 26.  Mosepele said he is not sure when the 1.9 million doses will arrive, but that the largest portion of the pending shipment is from Johnson & Johnson, which is expected to deliver 1.1 million doses of its one-shot vaccine.