DRC kick-starts Covid-19 vaccination drive
The drive was launched by the DR Congo’s Health Minister Eteni Longondo at University Clinics of Kinshasa.
CAPE TOWN, April 20 (ANA) – The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has started its Covid-19 vaccination drive for its high-risk, vulnerable population despite persistent public wariness about the potential side effects of the vaccine.
People will start receiving shots across the vast central African country from Monday, Interior Minister Gilbert Kankonde said on state television on Wednesday, according to news agency AFP.
The Central African nation kicked off the vaccination campaign on Monday after it received 1.7 million AstraZeneca vaccine doses through the Covax facility last month, according to Indian news channel Republic World.
The drive was launched by the DRC’s Health Minister Eteni Longondo at University Clinics of Kinshasa in the presence of some of the representatives of the EU, according to Africa News.
Covid-19 vaccinations is a sensitive issue in the DRC, where conspiracy theories circulate widely on social media.
However, Kankonde said vaccinations will be voluntary and preference will be given to health-care staff, vulnerable people with chronic illnesses and all those who are highly exposed to the virus while carrying out their work.
The vaccination drive was meant to start on March 15 but was delayed “as a precaution” after several countries suspended the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine because of a scare over the risk of blood clots.
Following the suspension, Longondo said the country could resume the planned vaccination drive, provided the jab was found to be safe.
Last Wednesday, Kankonde said that a team of Congolese experts had determined that the vaccine “poses no disadvantages to the people”.
The DRC lifted its curfew last week in areas that recorded a low tally of Covid-19 infections. The country had imposed a strict curfew in the capital Kinshasa, which recently started to record a dip in the daily average of Covid-19 cases, Republic World reported.
The DRC has recorded 28,859 cases, with 745 deaths and 25,841 recoveries, since the first Covid-19 case was detected in the country on March 10, 2020.
– African News Agency (ANA); Editing by Yaron Blecher