Over 861 centers across the country will provide the vaccination services

* As Chakwera launches COVID-19 vaccine

* The President calls for acceptance

* About 1.4 million Malawians are expected to be vaccinated

* The pandemic has claimed over 1,077 lives, 82% in the second wave

By Solister Mogha, MANA & Duncan Mlanjira, Maravi Express

Over 861 centers across the country will provide the vaccination services that is targeting about 1.4 million Malawians from the first batch of AstraZeneca vaccine the country received last week.

President Lazarus Chakwera launched the exercise on Thursday in Zomba with a call for Malawians to quickly get immunized, saying the provision of the vaccine in the country was a milestone in the fight against the pandemic.

The COVID-19 has claimed over 1,077 lives of which 82% were in the second wave that hit the country hard from January, that included two Cabinet Ministers — Lingson Belekanyama (Local Government) and Sidik Mia (Transport and Public Works, who was also Malawi  Congress Party vice-president).

Others included musician Wambali Mkandawire; Malawi Human Rights Commission (MHRC) chairperson, Reverend Patrick Semphere; artist Frank Patani Mwase; renowned radio broadcaster Maria Chidzanja Nkhoma and many others.

The President expressed optimism that with the vaccine, the country would see change in number of new infections.

The COVID-19 situation report indicates that as of Wednesday, the country registered 86 new cases, 690 new recoveries, three new deaths — one from Blantyre and two from Lilongwe.

Of the new cases, 81 are locally transmitted with Blantyre having the highest at 35 followed by 26 from Lilongwe.

Five of the new cases were hospitalised while 15 were discharged leading to total of 60 active cases that are admitted — with Blantyre as the highest at 13 in followed by 11 in Lilongwe.

Cumulatively, Malawi has recorded 32,614 cases including 1,077 deaths — case fatality rate is at 3.30%.

Cumulatively, 24,381 cases have now recovered (recovery rate of 74.8%) and 134 were lost to follow-up — bringing total number of active cases to 7,022.

The positive cases out of the total translates to a positivity rate of 12.5%. President Chakwera announced that the strict preventive measures that were put in place when he declared a State of National Disaster in January would only be lifted if the positivity rate goes to 5%.

“COVID-19 has robbed us of our freedom, destroyed business and jobs, restricted our travels and disturbed our communal life,” Chakwera said. “Painfully, the pandemic has infected 32,000 Malawians and killed many of our beloved ones.

“However, the change has come — we expect to see reduced cases of new infection. The vaccine has come at the nick of time to give us the second wind in our quest to defeat the COVID-19 pandemic.”

The President has since asked Malawians not to be scared or absorb the false information in regards to the vaccine but rather join in the fight by getting vaccinated.

“There is no question that this vaccination programme is a must-have. The damage that COVID-19 has caused to our society is plain for all to see.

“For this reason, we must have the vaccine to protect ourselves from catching the virus. Noone should fool or scare Malawians with lies about the vaccine.

“As far as the vaccines are concerned, AstraZeneca has been found by our scientists to be safe, effective and suitable,” Chakwera said, referring to his acceptance to be the first one to be vaccinated as a sign of the safety of the vaccines.

Chakwera hailed healthcare workers for their dedication to work and development partners especially World Health Organisation (WHO) and Global Alliance on Vaccine and Immunization (GAVI) for the technical and financial support.

Minister of Health, Khumbize Kandodo Chiponda, warned health workers not to sale the vaccines and also not to be biased in the admission of the same.

Kandodo said the vaccine is for every Malawian and as such, everyone must be vaccinated while calling on Malawians to exercise patience in case some do not get the vaccine, saying government will continue to buy the vaccines.

It is expected that healthcare workers, teachers, the military, the police and the media would be the first to get vaccinated.