What Chiwenga told Parliament about the coronavirus vaccine roll-out

Regulatory  Framework

The COVID-19 vaccine is an emergency vaccine registered by MCAZ under Emergency Use Authority.  This is in terms of section 75 of Medicines and Allied Substances Control Act.  We have registered the vaccines now. As you may be aware Hon. Members, we are watching the print and electronic media and they are now about 15 vaccines.  When we get a vaccine which we think is or can be used in this country, it is registered under this section.

The Pharmacovigilance and Clinical Trials Committee will implement vaccine vigilance plans to monitor the safety and electiveness of the COVID-19 vaccine in use.

The vaccine consignment shall be physically verified and cleared by the Medicines Control Authority of Zimbabwe upon arrival.  The consignment shall be cleared on the basis of the standard vaccine lot release documentation.

The Ministry will set up and implement the safety monitoring plan to enable swift detection of any Adverse Events Following Immunisation (AEFI).  Lastly, the Ministry is to consider a study to confirm immunogenicity of the product in the local population

Planning and coordination

Establish or engage an existing committee, a National Coordinating Committee (NCC) for COVID-19 vaccine introduction with terms of reference, roles and responsibilities and regular meetings.  This we must make sure is done by this Committee.

Secondly, the Interagency Coordinating Committee (ICC) was tasked to spearhead planning and preparations for COVID-19 vaccination.

Thirdly, the National COVID-19 Response Coordinator was co-opted into the ICC with the Permanent Secretary being the chair of the committee.

Fourthly, Public Partnership initiatives will be coordinated by the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development.

Lastly, the Ministry of Health and Child Care will implement effective deployment of the COVID-19 vaccines through the National EPI programme.

Let us now move to the resources and funding:  The total estimated operational budget for COVID-19 vaccination over all phases is US$6 778 777.00.  Here we are talking of the operational budget.  The total cost for Phase 1, Stage 1 is US$1.3 million.

Budget Summary for Phase 1, Stage 1 and for all stages is indicated in the tables below;  Mr. Speaker Sir, we are duplicating the copies so that Hon. Members can have a copy and be able to see some of the figures which I am talking about here as they are tabulated.

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