By Tapeng Michael Ohure
Some 60,000 doses of Astrazeneca vaccine will be distributed across 53 counties in South Sudan.
The World Health Organization and the South Sudan’s Ministry of Health confirmed receipt of the 60,000 doses of the newly received third batch of the Astrazeneca vaccines.
The batch was received on Tuesday, the 16th of November, 2021 and targets some 52,000 people who already received their first jab and are due for the second shots.
On Sunday, the WHO Covid-19 Incident Manager Dr. Sacha Bootsman said, “The start of AstraZeneca jab for those that need the second dose should be starting next week”.
UNHAS is currently deploying the AstraZeneca to all the sites where they were given the first doses.
“Everyone who is still waiting for the second dose should go to the same site for the jab,” Dr. Sacha said.
The WHO says about 127,570 people are fully vaccinated across the country.
“We have covered 53 counties out of 80 counties in the country and 127,570 people are fully vaccinated with both AstraZeneca and Johnson and Johnson,” Dr. Sacha said.
South Sudan confirmed 19 cases in the last 24 hours bringing the cumulative confirmed to 12,675 cases with 12,168 recoveries.
Globally, 38 percent of the world population is fully vaccinated with Africa’s population vaccinated 7 percent according to the WHO.
The WHO says Africa has recorded a decline in the number of Covid-19 cases with a death record of over 15,000 in the past one week.
“Africa receives continuous decline in the number of new cases and deaths except Egypt,” Dr. Bootsman added.
Bior Kuer Bior, the Manager for Public Health Emergency Operations Centre (PHEOC) said there is a general reduction in the number of infections in the country.
“What we are seeing is the average case count and daily positivity rate of 2.1 and are decreasing with an average of 12 cases per day,” Dr. Bior Kuer said.
