Mauritius joins Egypt, Seychelles to roll out mass covid vaccination
London, Jan. 27, 2021 (AltAfrica)-Mauritius becomes the latest country in Africa, after Egypt, Guinea, Seychelles to roll out a vaccination programme against Covid-19.
Mauritius began a nationwide Covid-19 vaccination campaign on Tuesday, with medical staff at ENT hospital, the main treatment centre, being the first to be immunised.
Three teams of health workers have also been deployed at Victoria Hospital in the town of Quatre Bornes.
Those vaccinated will get a second dose of the AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccine in about 20 days.
Over 3.4 million confirmed #COVID19 cases on the African continent – with more than 2.9 million recoveries & 85,000 deaths cumulatively.
— WHO African Region (@WHOAFRO) January 26, 2021
View country figures & more with the WHO African Region COVID-19 Dashboard: https://t.co/FKav40Cbdd pic.twitter.com/VvUexPNcae
Mauritius received 100,000 doses of vaccine from India on Friday.
A batch of 240,000 doses of the Pfizer-BioNtech vaccine is expected to arrive in the country by 15 February, according to the World Health Organization (WHO) representative, Laurent Musango.
The Pfizer/BioNtech vaccines were obtained through Covax – a global initiative led by the WHO to make sure vaccines are shared fairly among all nations, rich and poor.
The island nation of Seychelles became the first country in Africa to roll out its mass COVID-19 vaccination campaign, with the country’s political leaders and health workers taking the vaccine
President Wavel Ramkalawan, who said he wanted to lead by example by being the first, followed by the vice president, with the cabinet of ministers, and members of the National Assembly were the first ones to take the Sinopharm vaccine.
Though covid-19 vaccination began in Guinea days ahead of Seychelles with the Russian Sputnik V vaccine, it was just on an experimental basis, also starting with government officials,
Guinea ordered only 55 doses of the Russian vaccine, said Dr. Sakoba Keita, the director-general of the National Health Security Agency.
On Sunday, Egypt began its Covid-19 immunisation programme, becoming the third country in Africa to vaccinate its citizens, with a doctor and a nurse receiving the Chinese-made Sinopharm jab.
