Health Minister Lizzie Nkosi says it is deliberately misleading to assume that the Eswatini Government is reliant on donations for the procurement of the COVID-19 vaccines.

The Minister has been speaking during a press briefing that was held on Wednesday where she assured the nation that the country will continue receiving its COVID-19 vaccines from the COVAX facility as scheduled contrary to media reports suggesting otherwise.

Nkosi said the government had not received any communication from the facility to inform of any delays for the planned May 2021 delivery of the Oxford AstraZeneca Vaccine.

She further revealed that the COVAX facility is not the only avenue Eswatini is perusing to secure the COVID-19 vaccine as the country is expecting to receive 500 000 doses of AstraZeneca Vaccine as a donation from the manufacture (Oxford University AstraZeneca). She said the COVID-19 consignment will be delivered on May 2021.

Meanwhile, the African Union which Eswatini is a member has secured a provisional 270 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines to distribute across the continent including the Kingdom of Eswatini. A combination of Pfizer, Jonson, and Jonson vaccines have been allocated for the Kingdom of Eswatini from the AU consignment and are expected in the 3^rd quarter of the year.

The Minister clarified that vaccines from the COVAX facility and the AU will only cover only 35% of the country’s population and the rest will have to be sourced directly from the manufacturers.

She reiterated that the government has set aside E200 million for procurement of COVID-19 vaccines and therefore the notion of assuming that the government is reliant on donation is misleading.

However, the Minister said the government has not been able to utilize the E200 million due to challenges in accessing the COVID-19 vaccines, a challenge not only facing the Kingdom of Eswatini but other countries as well.

Meanwhile, the Kirsh Foundation has also pledged 15.8 Million US Dollars for the purchase of Modena vaccine which is expected to be delivered in the 3^rd and final quarter of the year. On the other hand, Taiwan also contributed an additional E1.5 million in assisting the country in the procurement of the vaccines.