THE United States of America (U.S) through its embassy in Lesotho has applauded the country on the national rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine spearheaded by His Majesty King Letsie III.

The U.S ambassador to Lesotho Rebecca Gonzales specifically lauded the king in leading the launch of the vaccination in Morija on the outskirts of Maseru on Wednesday.
She affirmed the long standing partnership between the U.S and Lesotho by noting that over the last year, the American government moved swiftly to support the local response to control the spread of COVID-19.

She pledged further support of the vaccine rollout with trusted implementing partners together with the Ministry of Health.
The U.S government she said will provide additional funding to the COVAX facility through 2022 and will work with other donors to make further pledges as well as commitments to get the facility's critical needs.

Ms Gonzales noted that the U.S government is committed to working with partners and governments to support global COVID-19 vaccination efforts with focus on vaccinating vulnerable populations.
She said the government has among others spent approximately M6 billion towards achieving HIV/AIDS epidemic control in Lesotho, adding that the funding focused on four areas thus reducing HIV incidence, reducing HIV/AIDS related morbidity and mortality by providing treatment and care to people living with HIV and orphans and vulnerable children, improving human resource capacity to deliver HIV services and strengthening health management information systems, laboratories, organisational capacity and supply chain.
The U.S government recently announced a commitment to provide an initial M31 billion out of a total planned M61 billion to the COVAX Advance Market Commitment, making the country the single largest contributor to the international response to COVID-19.
The country’s contribution will support the purchase and delivery of safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines for the world's most vulnerable and at-risk populations in 92 low and middle income countries including Lesotho.