AfricaPress-Tanzania: Rwanda has on Wednesday March 3, received its first consignment of COVID-19 vaccines trough the COVAX initiative.
The first batch of 240,000 doses of the AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine arrived at Kigali Airport on Wednesday morning.
In a statement released by the country’s Health Minister, Dr Daniel Ngamije, Rwanda will immediately roll out vaccination plan, which will see target risk groups across Rwanda receive their first of two vaccine doses.
According to the statement, the vaccination exercise will be rolled out on Friday, March 5, with respective recipients of the shots being invited directly to their District Hospitals.
“The target is to vaccinate 30 per cent of the population by the end of 2021, and 60 per cent by the end of 2022,” reads the statement.
The statement further added: With each recipient receiving two doses for full protection, the AstraZeneca-Oxford & Pfizer vaccines will be used to vaccinate a total of 171,480 people identified as priority risk groups, including frontline workers, and those above 65 years old or with underlying health conditions.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has commended Rwanda’s efforts saying, “Rwanda has responded to the Covid-19 outbreak with determination to suppress circulation of the virus and save lives.
Dr Kasonde Mwinga, WHO Rwanda Country Representative. further added: These doses of Covid-19 vaccine from the Covax facility represent an unprecedented global effort to have equitable access to Covid-19 vaccines.
