South Sudan’s Health Ministry on Sunday announced it’s stuck with more than 126,000 doses of AstraZeneca vaccines as only 6,403 people have received COVID-19 doses so far since the beginning of the vaccination drive in April, reported CGTN Africa.
“In terms of vaccination we are still at a low point, as per Saturday the total number of people so far vaccinated is 6,403, this shows that we still have over 126,000 doses that need to be administered,” said Richard Lako, COVID-19 Incident Manager in the Ministry of Health.
South Sudan’s health ministry aims to vaccinate 2.4 million people out of the country’s estimated population of 12 million. In March, Juba received 132,000 doses of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines from the COVAX facility, a global partnership made up of a coalition that includes the Vaccine Alliance, UNICEF, and the World Health Organization (WHO). COVAX was established to ensure that all countries can equitably access COVID-19 vaccines.
South Sudan’s government is expected to receive a total of 732,000 doses of vaccines within the first six months of 2021.
Lako said considering the low turnout of people for vaccination, the ministry has decided to extend the vaccination centers to 23 across the 10 states to allow more people to get inoculated.
South Sudan registered no new case of COVID-19 infection on Sunday, bringing the cumulative number of the confirmed cases to 10,653, with 115 deaths since April 6, last year when the first case was registered.
Despite registering a significant drop in COVID-19 cases over several weeks, Lako warned the people to continue to adhere to the preventive health guidelines due to fears of the third wave in neighboring countries bordering South Sudan.
In related news, South Africa’s health ministry has announced the launch of phase two of its vaccination campaign that will target citizens 60 years and older who are most vulnerable to becoming ill or dying of COVID-19.
