Africa-Press – Tanzania. THE World Health Organisation (WHO) has assured the public that the Covid-19 vaccine being rolled out in the country is safe, calling on Tanzanians to continue taking the jabs in efforts to fight further spread of the global pandemic.
Tanzania is currently rolling out Johnson Johnson Covid-19 vaccine donated by the United States government through the COVAX arrangement, with priority given to frontline health care workers, people with chronic diseases as well as adults 50 years and above. WHO Country Director, Dr Tigest Ketsela Mengestu told a press conference here that the vaccine is safe.
“One of the responsibilities of WHO is to ensure safety and efficacy of the vaccines before they come into use, the vaccines provided by the government are safe,” she said.
She however commended Tanzania on the huge turnout of people who are getting Covid-19 vaccine since the country embarked on the exercise. She also congratulated President Samia Suluhu Hassan for the government’s efforts to continue providing education on Covid-19 vaccine as a result of a huge turnout to the designated centres.
She went on to emphasize on the need for Tanzanians to continue taking measures to curb further spread of Covid-19 pandemic, even after taking the vaccine.
Dr Mengestu stressed that vaccination does not replace the need for key preventive measures, including frequent hand washing, social distancing, masking, sanitising and avoiding gatherings. She however condemned spread of misinformation and myths about Covid-19 vaccines through social media.
World Health Organisation (WHO), vaccine Programme Manager, Dr William Mwengee noted that a person who has been vaccinated is more likely to be protected by 95 per cent than those who have not been vaccinated.
Meanwhile, the African Union (AU) has embarked on monthly shipments of 400 million Covid-19 vaccine doses to Member States, a week after President Samia Suluhu Hassan had stated that Tanzania has already placed an order with the regional organisation for the vaccines.
On Wednesday last week when officially launching the nationwide Covid-19 vaccination campaign, President Samia revealed that the previous day she had talks with Director of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), Dr John Nkengasong, who assured her over how the AU was well prepared to fight the pandemic.
Dr Nkengasong informed the President that the regional organization has put in place mechanisms to purchase the vaccines for African nations.
“He urged us to place our order with the AU. From the AU we will buy Johnson & Johnson vaccine which is produced in South Africa. So yesterday (Tuesday last week) we placed our order and we will see how we are going to receive them,” President Samia stated as she assured Tanzanians of availability of enough vaccines in the future.
In a new development, yesterday in Addis Ababa, President Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa and African Union (AU) Covid-19 Champion announced the start of monthly shipment of vaccines acquired by the AU / African Vaccine Acquisition Trust (AVAT) to the AU Member States effective yesterday.
An initiative by the AU Member States to pool their purchasing power, the AVAT, on 28 March 2021, had signed a historic agreement for the purchase of 220 million doses of the Johnson & Johnson single-shot Covid-19 vaccine, with the potential to order an additional 180 million doses.
“The Johnson & Johnson vaccine was selected for this first pooled procurement for three reasons: first of all, as a single-shot vaccine, it is easier and cheaper to administer; second, the vaccine has a long shelf-life and favourable storage conditions. Last but not least, the vaccine is partly manufactured on the African continent, with fill-finish activities taking place in South Africa,” revealed the statement.
By end of Thursday, the first monthly shipments will have arrived in several Member States, and shipments will continue for a total of 6.4 million doses shipped in this month.
Monthly shipments will continue and be continually ramped up, with a target of delivering almost 50 million vaccines before the end of December. By January next year, the number of vaccines being released will be in excess of 25m per month. In collaboration with the Africa Medical Supplies Platform (AMSP), UNICEF is providing logistical and delivery services to the Member States.
This vaccine acquisition is a unique milestone for the African continent. It is the first time Africa has undertaken a procurement of this magnitude involving all Member States. It also marks the first time that AU Member States have collectively purchased vaccines to safeguard the health of the African population – 400m vaccines are sufficient to immunize a third of the African people and bring Africa halfway towards its continental goal of vaccinating at least 60 per cent of the population.
International donors have committed to deliver the remaining half of the doses required through the Covax initiative.
