Ethiopia has begun its national COVID-19 vaccination programme. It’s using the Oxford/Astrazeneca vaccine that has been provided by the COVAX facility, a WHO supported initiative that aims to supply developing countries with doses to vaccinate at least 20% of the population. Ethiopia will receive over 8 million doses from the facility.
Health workers in Ethiopia’s capital Addis Ababa received their first COVID-19 inoculations.
“I was excited and I am happy now because it will protect me, our exposure is 100% with patients and this will protect us, that is why I am happy,” says a health worker.
“I am happy to be vaccinated today. We have taken our vaccination while marking one year since the virus was reported. From now on we will be more encouraged to be more responsible in our work,” adds another. The exercise is being rolled out in other parts of the country too.
The WHO supported COVAX facility has so far delivered over 2.2 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine to Ethiopia. WHO representative to Ethiopia Dr Boureima Hama Sambo says the increase in cases is concerning.
“Concerning is the increase in number of severe cases of COVID -19 requiring intensive care threatening the existing capacity and increasing the risk of overwhelming health systems.
At least 20 African countries have so far received supply from the facility aiming to immunise 20% of their citizens this year.
The continent is planning to buy more vaccines as a bloc. It has so far made a deal with the Serum Institute of India and Johnson and Johnson to acquire at least 270 million doses of vaccines from this year.
Individual countries are already making orders through an online platform that the Africa CDC has created. The African Union says it has a target of vaccinating at least 60% of the population in the continent by 2022.
As more vaccines are acquired, the AU is encouraging more countries to set up as many vaccination points as possible to enable many people to easily get inoculated.
Director of Africa CDC Dr. John Nkengasong explains, “We are very concerned that if we don’t do what the rest of the world is doing, getting vaccinated, they will begin to impose restrictions on travel. So now we are saying No. Let us get to the same playing field level before they can impose. Let the vaccine be available to all so that we can say then ok, if you don’t have your vaccines you can’t travel, but you know where to go get the vaccine. But for now we don’t know yet where to go get the vaccine.”
But until certainty of vaccine supply in the continent is clear, countries like Ethiopia are depending on whatever they can get to immunise as much of the population as possible.
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Source: sabcnews
