Algeria has promised to share some of their doses of coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccines with neighbours, Tunisia, a government official has revealed.
Tunisia’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Othman Jerandi, says Algeria agreed to share the vaccines in in the spirit of fraternity between the two countries.
Algeria, which have already ordered the vaccines, expects to have them by the end of the month.
“Among the calls I made during this time, I had a call with my counterpart, the Algerian foreign minister, about the possibility of receiving some vaccines from Algeria.,” Jerandi said.
“The foreign minister responded positively and directly, saying that Algeria did not receive the vaccines yet, but the moment they receive them they will share them with its sister Tunis.”
It is not clear how many doses Algeria has ordered, nor how many each country needs to battle the virus effectively. However, reports said the country ordered Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine – with 500,000 doses due in the first delivery – as well as another vaccine from China.
Algeria’s President Abdelmadjid Tebboune recently returned to Germany for a final phase of treatment after he caught coronavirus three months ago.
Tunisia, with a population of 12 million, has registered more than 5,000 deaths from coronavirus.
Its government imposed a four-day lockdown on 14 January to control the spread of the virus.
Algeria meanwhile has had 2,822 deaths and around 30,000 active cases, according to data published by Johns Hopkins university.