DRC to start Covid-19 vaccination drive next week

Covid-19 vaccinations is a sensitive issue in the DRC, where conspiracy theories circulate widely on social media.

CAPE TOWN, April 15 (ANA) – The Democratic Republic of Congo is expected to kick off a Covid-19 vaccination drive next week despite persistent public wariness about the potential side effects of the drugs.

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.

Covid-19 vaccinations is a sensitive issue in the DRC, where conspiracy theories circulate widely on social media.

“Vaccination 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,” Kankonde said.

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.

The vaccination campaign was also suspended in the Central African nation in March, pending investigations into whether the AstraZeneca vaccine was safe for use.

Following the suspension, Health Minister Eteni Longondo said the country could resume the planned vaccination drive, provided the jab was found to be safe.

On Wednesday, Kankonde said that a team of Congolese experts has determined that the AstraZaneca vaccine “poses no disadvantages to the people”.

The DRC’s decision to postpone the vaccination campaign mirrored the move of some European countries using the AstraZeneca vaccine, including Denmark, Norway and Bulgaria, who decided to postpone their roll-out due to concerns about blood clots, according to Radio France Internationale (RFI).

The DRC in early March received 1.7 million doses made by Anglo-Swedish pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca.

The DRC has recorded 27,794 cases, with 726 deaths and 25,355 recoveries, since the first Covid-19 case was detected in the country on March 10, 2020, when a Congolese national returning to Kinshasa from his residence in France tested positive for the coronavirus, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

– African News Agency (ANA); Editing by Yaron Blecher