Guinea Bissau gets 12,000 doses of Covid-19 vaccines
Wednesday March 24 2021
Guinea Bissau received 12,000 doses of Covid-19 vaccines on March 22, 2021 from a partnership between the South African telecommunications firm MTN and the African Union. PHOOT | FILE | NMG
Guinea Bissau Monday received 12,000 doses of Covid-19 inoculations from a partnership between the South African telecommunications firm MTN and the African Union.
Guinea Bissau is a West African country with a population of less than two million people and has so far recorded 3,500 Covid-19 cases with 55 deaths.
“Today is in fact a very important day for Guinea Bissau in fighting the Covid-19 pandemic because we received the first 12,000 doses of the vaccine,” the country’s High Commissioner for Covid-19, Ms Magda Robalo told journalists in aeroporto Osvaldo Vieira, in Bissau after receiving the inoculations.
She said the AstraZeneca vaccine will help the country achieve its goals in combating Covid-19.
The Western African country has approved the use of Pfizer/BioNTech, AstraZeneca/Oxford and the Indian Serum Institute’s AstraZeneca vaccines.
Guinea Bissau plans to inoculate the first 20 per cent of its less than 2 million population, giving priority to health personnel and people with chronic illnesses or underlying conditions.
In the long run, it plans to vaccinate at least 70 percent of its population in three phases.
The country is also expecting to receive 120,000 AstraZeneca doses by the end of May from the Covax facility.