Every life is valuable-Chakwera

Chakwera says his administration values every life that its commitment to fight the Covid 19 pandemic is rooted in making sure all Malawians are safe, writes Kondwani Munthali in London

President Lazarus Chakwera says his administration values every life that its commitment to fight the Covid 19 pandemic is rooted in making sure all Malawians are safe.

The President was speaking to BBC Hard Talk host Sarah Montague in London where he called for equitable distribution of vaccine and access to more by poor countries to ensure the whole world is safe.

“We are not blaming anyone, but what we are saying is let vaccines be readily available from north to south. Malawi at 0.2 percent, we say we want more. The great divide that is there affects Africa, South America and South Asia more,” said Chakwera.

The President said countries like Malawi should be able to produce own vaccines or have access through equitable distribution of the life saving jabs and not wait for the rich countries to inoculate all its citizens to share with poor nations.

He said his government is committed to having majority of Malawians vaccinated within the next coming months and currently it was expanding testing and vaccination centres across the country to have more people vaccinated.

“I am going to ask the UK Government for help. We have asked before and they have helped,” said the President.

He said Malawi has registered over 80% recovery rates and acknowledged the toll the pandemic has had on the economy and the health sector.

“We are working on strengthening district responses and we will make sure we preserve every life,” said the President.

Malawi, according to the Ministry of Health has around 11,000 cases and recorded over 1500 deaths since the pandemic started last year.