In a press release, the UNITA parliamentary group says it wants to hear from Minister Sílvia Lutucuta regarding the situation of the covid-19 pandemic, testing procedures and test quantities, as well as the citizens' vaccination program.
The type of vaccines, the quantities, the costs of acquisition, among other issues, are also concerns in relation to which the deputies want to obtain clarifications.
"The request for a hearing is supported under the terms of paragraph 1, article 303 and article 147 of Law no. 13/17, of 16 July (Rules of Procedure of the National Assembly). As members of a sovereignty body, being representatives of the sovereign people of Angola, deputies have the right and the duty to be informed with due advance and privilege, under the terms of the Constitution and the Law ", the statement reads.
In the letter addressed to the President of the National Assembly, the UNITA parliamentary group says it expects the request for a hearing "to be dealt with promptly depending on its relevance".
Since the beginning of the pandemic, Angola has reported 20,548 covid-19 infections, of which 499 deaths, corresponding to a lethality rate of 2.4 percent.
The Government announced in December last year that it should receive the first tranche of five million vaccines against covid-19 this month and expected more than seven million by April this year.
"We believe that, at least, until February we will have the opportunity to receive the first tranche of five million and what is scheduled is until April to receive the rest", out of a total of 12 million, said, at the time, the Minister of Health.
According to Sílvia Lutucuta, Angola will have access to the Pfizer vaccine in the first phase, but it may receive others that are in the final stages of study and have requested authorization, such as the Russian and Chinese ones, "as long as there is WHO certification [Organization World Health Organization] and similar entities, with guarantee that they will be effective and will bring less side effects ".
The covid-19 pandemic caused at least 2,466,453 deaths worldwide, resulting from more than 111 million cases of infection, according to a report made by the French agency AFP.
