• Government took a strategic decision to ring-fence the remaining doses of AstraZeneca vaccines.
• Vaccination campaign with the current stock of AstraZeneca will commence with the first cohort.
• Cumulative number of vaccinated persons now stands at 124,206.

Ministry of Health says Government has continued on its quest to mobilize more vaccines by heightening engagements with the COVAX – Facility.
In a statement, Permanent Secretary for Technical Services Dr. Kennedy Malama stated that government is also heightening engagements with Diplomatic channels, the Private sector and through bilateral and multilateral options to ensure that more people access the vaccines.
He reiterated that Zambia has reserved AstraZeneca vaccines for use as second dose for those who have already received the first dose, therefore the vaccination campaign with the current stock of AstraZeneca will commence on 23rd June 2021.
“Yesterday, Government took a strategic decision to ring-fence the remaining doses of AstraZeneca vaccines for use as second dose for those who have received the first dose. Therefore, the vaccination campaign with the current stock of AstraZeneca will commence with the first cohort starting on 23rd June 2021,” Dr. Malama said.
And Dr. Malama revealed that in the last 24 hours, the Ministry administered an additional 3,997 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine, bringing the cumulative number of vaccinated persons to 124,206.
He said out of the total vaccinations, 118,684 are AstraZeneca and 5,522 are Sinopharm doses administered, before the pause was effected.
“I would like to further inform the nation that the administration of the second dose of the Sinopharm vaccine to the Chinese residents in Zambia will commence on the 20th June 2021. I would like to commend the Government of the People’s Republic of China for taking this approach.”
Meanwhile, Dr. Malama said the country has in the last 24 hours recorded 110 new confirmed cases out of 5,915 tests conducted, zero Covid-19 related deaths, and 27 discharges while 48 people are admitted to COVID-19 isolation facilities.
He added that the cumulative number of COVID-19 related deaths recorded to date stands at 1,263, classified as 709 COVID deaths and 554 COVID-19 associated deaths, while total discharges are now 90,919, representing 98% recovering rate.
“This is the first time we have recorded over a hundred cases, since 20th April when we recorded 100 new cases. There were no new cases reported from the tests conducted in Muchinga and Southern provinces. This brings the cumulative number of confirmed cases recorded to date to 92,630.”
“There are currently 448 active cases, of whom 400 are under community management and 48 are admitted to our COVID-19 isolation facilities; we had 9 new admissions in the last 24 hours. Among those admitted, 32 are on Oxygen therapy and 5 are in critical condition,” he stated.