Rwanda Receives First Batch Of Covid Vaccine

Rwanda has received its first batch of Covid-19 vaccine doses from the UN-backed Covax distribution initiative which it will use to immunize people identified as priority risk groups.

The country received 240,000 doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, and with a further 102,960 doses of Pfizer vaccine expected to arrive later in the day, according to the health ministry.

Doses of the two vaccines would be used to immunise a total of 171,480 from Friday, the ministry said.

Rwanda expects to receive the total of 1,098,960 doses of both the AstraZeneca and Pfizer vaccines.

“Our target is to vaccinate 30% of our population by the end of 2021, and 60% by the end of 2022,” Health Minister Daniel Ngamije said.

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Rwanda has reported more than 19,000 cases of Covid-19 and 265 death.

Last month, the country started vaccinating “high risks groups” using the Pfizer vaccine “acquired through international partnerships in limited quantities”, the health ministry said.