BY HARRIET CHIKANDIWA/RICHARD MUPONDE/MIRRIAM MANGWAYA GOVERNMENT yesterday revealed that it was failing to import enough vaccines for citizens, and would prioritise Cabinet ministers and senior government officials, Members of Parliament (MPs), the security sector and frontline health workers. This is despite that a majority of people that have succumbed to COVID-19 are ordinary citizens after the country recorded 1 075 deaths as of last night. Zimbabwe has witnessed a steep rise in the number of infections of the coronavirus, now having recorded more than 31 000 cumulative infections. Ministers Sibusiso Busi Moyo (Foreign Affairs and International Trade), Joel Biggie Matiza (Transport and Infrastructual Development), Perrance Shiri (Lands and Agriculture, Water and Rural resettlement) and Ellen Gwaradzimba (Manicaland Provincial Affairs) succumbed to COVID-19, but the majority of the 31 000 infections in the country consist of ordinary Zimbabweans. Yesterday, Health and Child Care ministry (MoHCC) statistics showed that 326 people tested positive to the virus, bringing the number of active COVID-19 cases in the country to 7 694. Only 105 people are hospitalised at different health institutions. The disclosure that ministers, MPs, government officials, the security sector and frontline workers would be prioritised should the country secure vaccines was made in Parliament by the head of monitoring and evaluation in the Health and Child Care ministry, Robert Mudyiradima. He said this during a virtual meeting of the Ruth Labode-led Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Health to explain the COVID-19 situation in the country and how the government was coping in mitigating the pandemic. Mudyiradima said the COVID-19 vaccine to be procured would not be enough to cater for all citizens. “There is a need for a vaccine to control the spread of COVID-19, and we have to know which vaccine meets our requirements and which one we need. Most of the vaccines have not passed phase three trials,” he said. “The vaccine might not be enough and there will be a group that will be prioritised such as frontline workers, ministers, MPs and members of the security sector.” It was also revealed that the money to be used in the procurement of the vaccine was not factored in the MoHCC budget. The funds to procure the vaccines were still being mobilised. Director of epidemiology in the MoHCC, Portia Manangazira, told the committee that Zimbabwe would not get all the vaccines, as some of them were not meant for Africa, mostly because they were produced under subsidies. “On the issue of medicines intended for developing countries, some of them are subsidies, and so it might be one of the reasons behind the labelling. It is not about the quality of the vaccines. We have one of the most stringent regulators, which are the Medicines Control Authority of Zimbabwe which checks the quality of medication …” she said. Manangazira said that the vaccine that would be rolled out to the public would be safe and scientifically proven. “The vaccine manufacturin