The Libyan Health Ministry on Wednesday received 150,000 doses of the Chinese COVID-19 vaccine Sinovac as a donation from Turkey, reported CGTN Africa.
The ministry said the vaccine shipment was provided within the framework of mutual cooperation between Libya and Turkey.
Libya has received 400,000 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine so far, according to the Libyan Government, which urged the people to register online to receive the vaccine. Last week, 57,600 doses of the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine were received in the first COVAX shipment.
Libya’s National Center for Disease Control launched the vaccination campaign against COVID-19 in the capital Tripoli on April 10, with Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah and Health Minister Ali Zanati being the first to get inoculated in the country.
Medical staff treating COVID-19 patients inside isolation units, elderly with chronic diseases, and medical workers in different hospitals and medical centers are being the first to get the vaccines.
According to the Libyan National Center, the total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Libya so far is 170,045, including 155,117 recoveries and 2,834 fatalities. The war-torn country’s healthcare system has struggled to cope during the pandemic, strained by years of political turmoil and violence.
Libya is currently trying to emerge from a decade of conflict since the fall of Muammar Gaddafi’s regime in 2011. In March, a new interim government won the confidence of parliament, with the task of unifying the country’s institutions and organizing national elections on 24 December.
In related news, the African Union on Tuesday announced the launch of a partnership with the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) to manufacture vaccines at five research centers to be constructed on the continent in the next 15 years.
According to John Nkengasong, director of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the five vaccine manufacturing centers will be located in the north, south, east, west, and center of Africa.
