PRIME Minister Dr Moeketsi Majoro says the Ministry of Health will start the next round of the vaccination campaign that is targeting some of the most vulnerable groups of the society, including the elderly people at risk of contracting the COVID-19 pandemic.

He made these remarks on Friday in Maseru as he received a total of 302 400 doses of the Johnson and Johnson COVID-19 vaccine from the United States government.
The donation forms part of the Biden-Harris administration’s global efforts to fight the COVID-19 pandemic.
Dr Majoro expressed gratitude to the US government, saying the donation came at the right time when there is an urgent need to vaccinate people in order to fight the deadly virus.

“The COVID-19 pandemic has negatively affected economies across the world and investors are unwilling to go into lockdowns, thus it is important to get people vaccinated,” he said.
He said Harvard has promised to donate 108 000 doses of the vaccine to the country soon, adding that the private sector has also pledged to buy 60 000 more doses.

He lauded the COVAX facility for a promising process of distributing vaccines to developing countries.
For her part, the US ambassador to Lesotho, Rebecca Gonzales said the donation embodies the continuation of the US leadership in public and the International COVID-19 response which is critical to ending the pandemic.
She said the US has contributed about M86 million towards helping Lesotho since the outbreak of the pandemic last year.