DR Congo postpones AstraZeneca vaccine rollout

Home » Coronavirus Updates » DR Congo postpones AstraZeneca vaccine rollout

Coronavirus Updates

March 13, 2021

DR Congo postpones AstraZeneca vaccine rollout

Uganda will import five million doses of AstraZeneca vaccines next month after the discovery of new COVID-19 variants in the country, President Yoweri Museveni has said. In a televised address to the nation late Friday, Museveni said the vaccines will be used to vaccinate at least 80 per cent of the 5.5 million elderly. People below 50 years, with underlying medical conditions that are at high risk of contracting the novel coronavirus, will also be vaccinated. Uganda targets to vaccinate more than 21.9 million people who face the highest risk of the infection, including the health workers, teachers, social workers and security personnel, elderly and those with underlying medical conditions. “The government is working hard to ensure we bring another five million doses of AstraZeneca vaccine before the end of May to complete the threshold vaccination and ensure that those vaccinated before getting the second booster dose,’’ said Museveni. “Vaccines are the most effective intervention we have against COVID-19. “The government and partners are working hard to bring vaccines to most adult Ugandans to protect them and to support us to reopen the economy and get back all our children to school.’’ Henry Mwebesa, Director-General of Health Services, last week said Uganda is scheduled to receive some two million more doses of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines in May through the COVAX facility. Uganda has so far received 964,000 doses of AstraZeneca vaccines from the COVAX vaccine sharing programme and the Indian government. As of April 16, a total of 220,893 people had been inoculated with the first jab of AstraZeneca vaccine against COVID-19, according to the Ministry of Health statistics. The country has reported the emergence of the highly transmissible COVID-19 variants which were first reported in Britain, South Africa and Nigeria. The ministry’s data showed that as of April 16, Uganda had registered a cumulative total of 41,340 confirmed COVID-19 cases, with 40,898 recoveries and 338 deaths.

The DR Congo will postpone its vaccination campaign using the AstraZeneca jab, following other countries taking similar precautionary measures, the government said on Saturday.

The Democratic Republic of Congo had received 1.7 million doses of the vaccine against Covid-19 made by Anglo-Swedish pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca and was due to start its campaign on March 15.

“As a precautionary measure, we decided to postpone the date for the launch of vaccination in the DRC,” Health Minister Eteni Longondo said in a statement.

Denmark, Norway, Bulgaria and Iceland have paused using the shot as a precaution over blood clot fears and an Indian official on Saturday said the country would carry out a deeper review of its post-vaccination side effects.

ALSO READ: Ancient Christian ruins discovered in Egypt

The World Health Organization has said that no causal link has been established between the AstraZeneca vaccine and blood clotting.

The company says the jab is safe and that “no evidence” exists of higher risk of blood clots.

The DR Congo minister said the new date for the vaccination campaign would be announced shortly, after results of the national and international investigations were available.

[AFP]

Vanguard News Nigeria

Disclaimer

Comments expressed here do not reflect the opinions of Vanguard newspapers or any employee thereof.