London, Jan. 17, 2021 (AltAfrica)-82-year-old president of Guinea, Alpha Conde, has become the first African leader to be vaccinated with covid-19 jab

Alpha Conde, received his first dose of a vaccine against the coronavirus, part of a scheme mainly involving government members, a source close to his office said Saturday.

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Defence minister Mohamed Diane, a scientist by training, was the first in the country to get a jab of Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine on December 30.

The source said Conde received the Sputnik V vaccine on Friday.

Several other top government officials who have not so far contracted the virus have also been inoculated over the past two weeks, a spokesman for the national health security agency told AFP.

Guinea has received 60 doses of Sputnik V and authorities intend to inoculate a small number of elderly volunteers first before deciding whether to extend the programme.

“More than 2.5 million vaccine doses are expected before the end of the first quarter, which would enable us to inoculate a good number of people, certainly those who want it,” said health agency spokesman, Sory Keira, without specifying whether the doses consisted solely of the Russian-developed jab

The West African country has so far registered more than 14,000 infections and 81 deaths linked to the novel coronavirus, including a number of politicians.

Guinea also learned this week that the covax initiative, which ensures COVID-19 vaccines to all countries – was going to deliver the promised doses earlier than expected.

After first talking about the end of the second quarter, WHO and UNICEF now expect delivery within the next two to three weeks.

The outbreak coincided with months of political crisis caused by Conde’s decision to run for his third consecutive term as president.

Conde won the October election against a backdrop of violence, with dozens killed during clashes between protesters and security forces.

Critics accuse him of cracking down on dissent and breaking the country’s constitutional two-term presidential limit.

The coronavirus pandemic comes on the heels of the 2014-2016 West Africa Ebola epidemic, which killed around 2 500 people in the nation of some 13 million people