Arrival of 100,600 doses vaccine boosts Rwanda's vaccination drive

VCG

Rwanda's COVID-19 mass vaccination drive has received another boost after the country received a batch of 100,600 doses of COVID-19 Pfizer vaccine through the World Health Organization's COVAX mechanism.

The East African country's health ministry announced that the vaccines arrived in Kigali late on Monday, becoming the second batch to arrive in five days.

Rwanda resumed its mass vaccinations on Saturday after receiving 247,000 doses of AstraZeneca through the COVAX mechanism, including 117,600 doses donated by the French government.

The vaccination program has prioritized high-risk groups, including the elderly (aged 60 and above), healthcare workers and people with chronic health conditions.

As of Monday, Rwanda had recorded 26,963 COVID-19 infections with 353 deaths.

So far, some 350,000 COVID-19 vaccines have been administered in the country, with 167,686 people having completed the two-dose inoculation.

The country needs at least 13 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines to inoculate 60 percent of the population – about 7.5 million people – which it targets to immunize by June 2022.