Public urged to collect official certification as proof for full CoVID-19 vaccination
The Ministry of Health is asking the public to visit their vaccination centres to collect official CoVID-19 vaccine certificates to those that are fully vaccinated against the pandemic.
A statement from Secretary for Health, Dr. Charles Mwansambo says the implementation of the CoVID-19 vaccine certification process is complete and the public should bring with them vaccine certificate they were first given to be presented to authorities as proof of full vaccination.
“The certificate will be issued as a digital copy, which can be saved and presented digitally or printed into a hardcopy, as and when such may be required,” says Mwansambo.
“Individuals who were fully vaccinated, meaning those that have received two doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine or one dose of the Johnson & Johnson (Janssen) vaccine, are eligible to obtain their CoVID-19 certificate.
“The certificate will be generated through the Ministry of Health’s CoVID-19 electronic vaccine (e-vaccine) registry.”
Mwansambo explained that the e-vaccine registry system contains records of each person who has received a CoVID-19 vaccine in which each individual vaccine record has been assigned a Unique Identifier (Unique ID) called an EPI number.
“The EPI number for each record is different; hence, each EPI number belongs to only one individual in the system. This EPI number will be used to generate the CoVID-19 certificate.
“Individuals who have been fully vaccinated will receive their EPI number through an SMS from the Ministry of Health.”
In order to generate the certificate, Mwansambo says an individual will be required to go to the official Ministry of Health COVID-19 website: https://covid19.health.gov.mw/.
“On the home page, there is a link to the COVAX dashboard. The link to the COVAX dashboard will take them to the CoVID-19 vaccine certification space.
“An individual will enter their EPI number and then generate the CoVID-19 vaccine certificate. The system will only generate certificates for records that have been validated by the Expanded Programme for Immunization officials who will coordinate all enquiries for the vaccine certification.”
He assured the public that the Ministry of Health “is keen to make this a smooth and easy process” and if after people receive their EPI number through SMS, are experiencing any challenges generating their certificate, they can contact the Ministry’s toll free number 929.
Meanwhile, as of Wednesday evening, a total of 923,686 vaccine doses had been administered with 482,962 people receiving their first doses of AstraZeneca and 222,314 their second dose.
The total for those that have receive the Janssen single dose is 218,410 — bringing a total of 440,724 people who are fully vaccinated.
In the past 24 hours of Wednesday, 2,182 and 2,033 people have received AstraZeneca first dose and second respectively with 2,694 having been jabbed with the Janssen.
The past 24 hours of Wednesday, the country registered 67 new CoVID-19 cases, 143 new recoveries and four new deaths. All new deaths were not vaccinated — one each from Blantyre, Lilongwe, Kasungu and Karonga Districts.
According to the daily situation report from the presidential taskforce, 49,824 cases have now recovered at the rate of 81.7% — bringing the total number of active cases to 8,680 from the recorded 60,965 cases since the outset that includes 2,229 deaths at case fatality rate of 3.66%.
There were nine new admissions — all not vaccinated — in the treatment units while five cases were discharged and as of Wednesday there was a total of 93 active cases hospitalised, of which nine were in critical condition and all were not vaccinated.
Lilongwe registered the highest at 23 with 16 in Blantyre and 10 in Mzimba North.
The positive cases out of the total number tested (968 in past 24 hours Wednesday) translates to a positivity rate of 6.9% while a weekly positivity rate (seven days moving average) was at 6.3%.
In the situation report, Minister of Health Khumbize Kandodo-Chiponda took the opportunity to recognize and appreciate various support — financial, technical and logistical — rendered to government in the CoVID-19 fight from various individuals, corporate companies, bilateral and multilateral partners, local and international non-governmental organizations.
“Yesterday [Tuesday] the Indian Government handed over items to assist in the CoVID-19 fight comprised of assorted medicines to the Ministry of Health and personal protective equipment (PPEs) to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation,” she said.
“Though India is facing the same challenge of CoVID 19 pandemic, the generosity and good will of the people of India to the people of Malawi is very evident and we as a country we appreciate the support.”
She reiterated that the US government donated 302,400 doses of the Janssen vaccine through the COVAX facility and “this has improved the number of fully vaccinated people in the country”.
“In their continued support, the US Government plans to donate an initial 372,060 doses of the Pfizer/Biontec CoVID-19 vaccine to Malawi through COVAX by the end of this quarter.
“Pfizer/Biontec vaccine requires ultra-cold chain infrastructure to maintain potency at temperatures not above minus 80 degrees Celsius. Currently Malawi does not have these Ultra-cold storage facilities.
“It is against this background that the US Government — through the United Parcel Service Foundation has donated ultra-cold chain equipment and other cold chain pieces of apparatus necessary to receive, store and distribute the Pfizer vaccines in Malawi.”
She said the ultra-cold chain equipment includes 30 portable freezers that are able to maintain temperatures up to minus 80 degrees Celsius, 50 cold chain boxes that can maintain vaccines at temperatures of 2-8 degrees Celsius and 60 GPS tracking tools.
“This will assist our officers at district vaccine stores to closely monitor the movement of each delivery. Let me thank the United States Government for this support which will go a long way in strengthening our ability to combat the CoVID-19 pandemic in our country,” the Minister said.
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