Africa-Press – South-Sudan. The country will tomorrow receive additionally 151,200 doses of the Johnson and Johnson vaccine to escalate the ongoing campaign against the COVID-19 pandemic.
Dr. John Rumunu, the Acting COVID-19 Incident Manager and Director-general for Preventive Services said the vaccines, donated by the United States of America(USA),will be delivered through the COVAX facility on September 14, 2021.
“We are expecting 151,200 doses of Johnson and Johnson vaccine to arrive on Tuesday. These doses were donated by USA through COVAX,”
Dr. Rumunu said, stressing that the additional doses wouldincreaseimmunization coverage and slow down the spread of the disease. South Sudan is currently administering more than 59,000doses
of the AstraZeneca vaccinein 35 counties across the 10 states and three administrative areas. Theywere the second batch of dosesdelivered by COVAX. Dr. Sacha Bootsma, WHOcountry Incident Manager for
COVID-19, said the Johnson and Johnson vaccineissafe and highly protective against corona virus and all other variants. “This has also been validated and certified by the World
Health Organization, meaning it is a very safe vaccine and is highly protective against coronavirus including all the other variant,” she said, adding that the
vaccine was given in a singledose unlike AstraZeneca vaccine which requiredtwo separate doses. The doses would be deployed to the 45 counties that had
not been covered by the ongoing campaign, she stressed. Dr. Sacha also said that the Johnson and Johnsonvaccinewould bea lot easier to store and deploy, saying it could in a normal fridge for few days during deployment.
