KIGALI (Reuters) – Rwanda on Sunday said it has started COVID-19 vaccines with very few vaccines received through anonymous international partners and said the program had been started by care workers facial health.
The central African country has been battling a rise in COVID-19 infections that forced the government to reverse lockdown last month in the capital Kigali.
Authorities banned the movement in and out of the city, except for essential services and for tourists.
In a tweet, Rwanda’s health ministry said the country’s National Vaccination Program had begun “vaccinating high-risk groups, especially front-line health care workers, with WHO-approved COVID-19 vaccines, obtained through international partnerships in limited quantities ”.
The first phase of vaccination, the ministry said, will be followed by a wider rollout with security secured through the World Health Organisation’s COVAX scheme to increase vaccine access by poor and middle-income countries.
There would also be additional provision through the African Union (AU) window. The AU has received more than 600 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines for its member states.
To date Rwanda has recorded about 17,000 cases of COVID-19 deaths and 236.
Written by Elias Biryabarema; edited by Emelia Sithole-Matarise