The country has run out of first doses of the Chinese-made Sinopharm vaccine.

The Covax facility, through which Namibia is acquiring vaccines, is currently prioritising distribution to other countries.

The facility is co-led by the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (Cepi), Gavi, The Vaccine Alliance, and the World Health Organisation (WHO) and focuses on ensuring equitable access of vaccines for African countries.

Moreover, being a middle-income country, Namibia has to settle its own financial obligations to the facility.

Minister of health and social services Kalumbi Shangula on Friday said the biggest issue affecting Namibia's access to Covid-19 vaccines is its middle- to upper-income status, compared to some other African countries which receive the vaccines for free through the facility.

This, Shangula said, has left the country competing with European countries to access vaccines.

He said Namibia's population size also contributes to the challenge of accessing vaccines.

"For instance, we would order 250 000 doses, while a European country would order a million doses. From a business perspective, the European country would be prioritised ... and all the vaccines are produced elsewhere, outside Namibia, outside Africa," he said.

Shangula said procuring vaccines has been difficult for Namibia.

"We have gone through the Covax facility, which is meant to ensure equitable access to vaccines. However, even the Covax facility has been struggling to acquire vaccines to distribute, and although we have paid, we are still waiting for the third consignment. We do not know when it will come," he said.

He said Namibia is waiting for Sputnik V and Johnson & Johnson through the African Union (AU), as well as Sinopharm.

DOSES ADMINISTERED

Overall, the country has administered 141 164 vaccinations after receiving 197 200 doses, which means 56 036 are left for both first and second jabs.

The Ministry of Health and Social Services has administered 50 534 first doses of Sinopharm vaccines across the country.

The country earlier this year received 100 000 doses. The vaccine is administered in two doses per person.

The ministry administered 534 additional first doses, hoping the second batch of Sinopharm vaccines, which the country has bought, would arrive in time for second doses.

Namibia bought an additional 150 000 Sinopharm doses set to arrive in the next two weeks.

Furthermore, Namibia has also received 30 000 doses of the AstraZeneca/Covishield vaccine from India, and 67 000 through the Covax facility.

This amounts to 97 200 AstraZeneca doses overall.

So far, the country has administered 67 098 first doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine.

The Covax facility is set to deliver an additional 40 800 doses of AstraZeneca by the end of July.

The AU will also deliver 250 000 vials of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine in August.

Between Friday and Saturday, the ministry recorded 95 new deaths linked to Covid-19, bringing the country's overall Covid-19 death toll to 1 400.

Over the same two days, Namibia recorded 3 435 new Covid-19 infections, pushing up to 84 705 the cumulative number of infections recorded in the country since the start of the pandemic.

Over the past week, Namibia recorded 11 541 new infections and 239 deaths linked to Covid-19.

Two weeks earlier, the country recorded 6 148 new infections and 88 deaths during the seven days up to 12 June.

VARIANTS AND WAVES

Shangula said Namibia is currently trying to establish which variant is driving the country's third wave.

"We are currently trying to identify that [a new variant]. We are busy checking if there are also some other variants circulating apart from that one. Maybe that variant was reinforced, or maybe there is an agent that is more aggressive," he said.

Windhoek-based infectious disease specialist Dr Gordon Cupido believes the current wave of new infections should peak in the next week or two, while hospitalisation and deaths can be expected to peak by the third week or end of July.

Cupido and lung specialist Dr Willie Bruwer say a fourth wave could be expected at around early to mid-October.

"Beta should make Delta less contagious now. Immunity wanes after three to six months, which is when Gamma will strike," Cupido yesterday said.

The Alpha variant of the virus was initially detected in the United Kingdom, Beta was first detected in South Africa, Gamma was identified in travellers from Brazil, and the Delta variant was discovered in India.

According to the South African Department of Science and Innovation, there is good evidence that the Delta variant is more transmissible than others.

So far, Namibia has only confirmed the presence of the Beta variant, and has not found any evidence that the Delta variant is present in the country.

IVERMECTIN

Shangula said no doctor has heeded the call of the Namibia Medicines Regulatory Council to participate in a clinical trial for the use of the animal parasite medication ivermectin to treat or prevent Covid-19.

"The council has said we invite the doctors to come and make such a trial using ivermectin and a placebo, and then compare and convince us that indeed this one has got a beneficial effect. The invitation is open, it is just that I have not heard of anyone taking it up," Shangula said.

The council believes there is no data to support the use of ivermectin to treat Covid-19.

Agricultural retail giants have been left with empty shelves as Namibians rushed to buy the medicine.

According to the WHO, ivermectin is a broad-spectrum antiparasitic agent.

Copyright The Namibian. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com)., source News Service English