On February 25, ZBC ran a story with the headline: “Private players can now import vaccines: Govt”.
The headline alone drew some outrage on social media.
But what did the Government really say?
Speaking in Parliament on Wednesday, February 24, Deputy Health Minister John Mangwiro said private companies can pay to bring in vaccines. However, importantly, he set conditions under which this can happen; procurement can only be done through the Ministry of Finance and not by the companies themselves, only locally registered vaccines can be brought in, and such vaccines must be given for free.
Harare East MP Tendai Biti had asked Mangwiro why private companies could not import on their own, with government only playing a regulatory role.
Said Biti:
“In view of the fact that the country has only imported 200,000 Sinopharm vaccines against a population of around 16 million, would it not be prudent that the drugs control council of Zimbabwe registered other vaccines approved by the WHO – the Russian Sputnik V, Sinovac, AstraZeneca, Modern, Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer – to allow medical aid societies, pension funds, trade unions, big corporations such as Delta and Econet, to import these registered drugs with the Ministry then playing a regulatory role to ensure that our people are safe?”
Mangwiro responded, saying government was at various stages of registering more vaccines, in addition to Sinopharm.
“We have said they (private firms) are welcome; they bring in their money, tell us what they want to do, but they buy via the Ministry of Finance so that all the vaccines that are bought are registered in the country.”
Mangwiro added that any vaccines paid for by private companies would have to be given for free to either workers or members of medical aid companies.
He said: “We also want to make sure that Zimbabweans get this vaccine for free, no matter the level.”
Conclusion
Zimbabwean companies will be able to pay for COVID-19 vaccine imports. However, all procurement will be done on their behalf by government. Only vaccines registered in Zimbabwe can be brought in, and all vaccines must be free.
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