MOGADISHU, Somalia – Somalia on Monday received its first shipment of 300,000 doses of the Oxford / AstraZeneca vaccine, intended for frontline workers and those most at risk for Covid-19, the government said in a statement.
The conflict-torn nation has seen coronavirus cases rise 77 percent over the past month to 9,190, while deaths have more than doubled to a total of 367.
“The arrival of the Covid-19 vaccines comes at a critical time as Somalia is now experiencing a new wave of the epidemic,” Health Minister Fawziya Abikar Nur said in a statement.
“It can only be contained if all countries stand together, Somalia included.”
AstraZeneca jab, manufactured by the Serum Institute of India, was delivered under the Covax initiative, which works to facilitate vaccine access for poor countries.
This particular vaccine requires only standard refrigeration, making it easier to transport and store.
Nur said Somalia had “strong systems in place” to carry out the vaccination campaign.
“The vaccines have helped other countries reduce the spread of Covid-19, and we are confident they will do the same for Somalis,” he said.
Elsewhere in the Horn of Africa and East Africa, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda have also started vaccinating against Covid-19.
