Senegal’s president, Macky Sall, says his government has bought and received 200,000 doses of the coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccines from the Chinese firm, Sinopharm.
Sall’s Government has started the process of acquiring other vaccines apart from the 200,000 doses from Sinopharm and will receive 6.798 million doses in the coming weeks for mass vaccination.
The chartered flight carrying the Sinopharm vaccines departed Beijing, China’s capital, on Wednesday and arrived Senegal in the early hours of Thursday morning.
Sall and his wife, Marieme Faye, as well as other senior government officials, Chinese Ambassador to Senegal Xiao Han and representatives of the World Health Organization (WHO) attended the delivery ceremony at Blaise Diagne International Airport in Ndiass, southeast Senegal.
Sall said the government paid for the vaccine, and did not wait to receive doses from the World Health Organization’s Covax scheme, which aims to make it easier for developing nations to buy them.
Frontline health workers, the elderly and people with underlying health conditions are first in line for the shot.
Senegal has seen a spike in Covid cases and deaths in recent weeks. To date, the country has recorded 31,771 confirmed cases and 769 deaths.
To curb the second wave, the authorities have tightened restrictions, including banning gatherings, requiring people to wear masks in public places and imposing a curfew from 21:00 to 05:00 in the hardest hit areas – the capital, Dakar, and the city of Thies.
Last week, Sall announced that vaccinations would begin at the end of February, starting with medical personnel and people at risk.
The country’s Minister of Health and Social Action has been directed to take all the health, logistical, financial and social mobilization arrangements necessary for launching vaccination campaigns throughout the country.
Senegal is also expecting nearly 1.3 million vaccine doses through the COVAX initiative, has already received 1,117 freezers approved by WHO for the storage of vaccines and cold rooms have been installed.