Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), launched on Monday, April 19, in Kinshasa, the vaccination campaign against Covid-19. Despite the controversy and controversy that the AstraZeneca vaccine has sparked around the world and the media, the Congolese authorities have kept it for the campaign, after an initial launch, as a precautionary measure. The green light was given during a ceremony, in the absence of the highest authorities in the country.
as reported from Kinshasa, Pascal Mulegwa
The ceremony was sober at the hospital at the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Kinshasa. President Félix Tshisekedi and his prime minister were expected, but in the end they did not attend.
In front of an audience of journalists and diplomats, the hospital’s medical director, Professor Jean-Robert Makulo Risasi, is the first Congolese reader to be vaccinated.
It is a vaccine like any other vaccine. There is a chance with other associated actions to end this pandemic. At present, the country does not have many cases, but we must do everything we can to avoid the third wave. There are many more advantages than disadvantages to being vaccinated. The positive effects of the vaccine are much greater than the negative effects that can occur in rare cases, he emphasized.
For his part, the outgoing Minister of Health Eteni Longondo is in turn vaccinated in a tent … then it is even more soothing, after ten minutes under observation.
“It’s a true vaccine, AstraZeneca. I was released because there were no effects. Vaccination is voluntary. We’ve heard a lot about this vaccine. Compared to whispers and suspicions, there are many more benefits to this vaccine than we have heard. If the effects are harmful – I do not want it – we are committed to taking care of it “.
Among the first beneficiaries are the European Union Ambassador to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Jean-Marc Châtaigner, and the UN Coordinator for Humanitarian Affairs in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, David McLachlan-Karr.
The country has less than 2 million doses under the Covax system (1.7 million). For this first phase, which is aimed at the most affected provinces, the campaign is aimed at healthcare professionals, people with comorbidity or even people over 55 years of age.
Distrust of the vaccine is still strong. Some opposition members as well as those in power have even questioned themselves on social networks about what they have mostly classified as “urgent” while the country has only registered 745 deaths among the less than 29,000 cases.
I invite the population to be vaccinated. Vaccination is voluntary.
Eteni Longondo, Minister of Health
Also read: DRC: vaccination campaign and distrust of the AstraZeneca vaccine
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