The Ministry of Finance has advised its health counterpart to ensure that the COVID-19 vaccines are procured in the public interest and that the Government gets value for its money. The ministry's spokesperson, Tonateni Shidhudhu said this in response to an inquiry by the NBC, following an appeal by a public interest law outfit to treat the procurement of COVID-19 vaccines as an emergency and buy them directly from the manufacturers. The Ministry of Health last week issued a public invitation to suppliers to bid for a tender to provide COVID-19 vaccines. The People's Litigation Centre alleged that middlemen procuring medicine for the Government are inflating the prices and sometimes do not even deliver, resulting in the taxpayer losing millions of dollars. Shidhudhu told the NBC that they have taken note of the tender invitation but added that the Ministry of Health had requested for an exemption to procure the vaccines above their allowable threshold directly. In response, the Minister of Finance, Shidhudhu added, advised health to use the emergency procurement route and buy the supplies directly from the manufacturers.