Africa-Press – Mozambique. The Mozambican government has spent around US$100 million buying just over 11 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine.
The information was provided by the coordinator of the vaccination process in Mozambique, Ivan Manhiça, who also noted that the state had already made payment, but some of the doses had not yet arrived in the country because of stock management and transport constraints.
Addressing the matter of mass immunization, Manhiça said that about 1,400,000 people were inoculated during the first round of the campaign, countrywide.
According to Manhiça, during the 14 days of the first round, around 100,000 people were vaccinated daily, representing, for the official, a considerable milestone.
“In these numbers, if we want to compare with the previous period, which lasted about five months, it was a record, because, during the first phase, we vaccinated around 400,000 people and this makes a number of 1.8 million people across the country,” he explained.
Of the 1.8 million people inoculated, only 650,000 are fully vaccinated, that is, have received either two doses or the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine.
Speaking on the STV ‘Noite Informativa’ programme, Manhiça said that three vaccines were used in the campaign: VeroCell and AstraZeneca, which require two doses, and the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine.
Regarding vaccine expiry dates, Manhiça explained that the Mozambican health authorities, to minimise wastage, had established with the pharmaceutical companies that the vaccines delivered would have a minimum shelf life of four months.
