Sudan, having vaccinated nearly a million citizens, revealed its intention to import 4 million doses of Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 vaccine, as part of the government’s efforts to contain the pandemic.
Khartoum: AlTaghyeer
On Sunday, The health ministry in Sudan announced that more than 697,000 citizens have been vaccinated against COVID-19 all around the country.
A national official overseeing the vaccination process, Dr. Abdul-Malik al-Hadiya, relayed the ministry’s statement.
He indicated that the vaccine was distributed among 183,239 medical personnel and 513,824 citizens.
It was estimated that the vaccination rate reached 85% of the total 820,000 vaccines that were distributed to all states.
Al-Hadiya revealed the health authorities’ intention to import four million doses of Johnson and Johnson’s vaccines before next September.
Regarding side effects from the vaccine, the official stated that “most of the side effects of the serum were mild and expected, and no serious cases have been recorded.”
He called on citizens who did not receive the second dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine to go to the designated health centers to complete the required dose.
Al-Hadiya expects the arrival of 823,000 doses under the COVAX Initiative in August.
He stressed that the vaccination priority will be reserved for those who received the first dose.
“As you know, we received a donation from China of 250,000 doses of Sinopharm more than two months ago,” he added.
“We will receive 30,000 additional doses of Chinese serum, which are donations from the United Arab Emirates.”
The state official revealed a plan to distribute the Chinese serum through distributing 100,000 of its doses to the armed forces and 150,000 to the Ministry of Health.
The start of this distribution, as he announced, will commence the Eid al-Adha holidays.
Situation in the Capital
The Ministry of Health in Khartoum revealed – middle of last week – an increase in the COVID-19 death rate, confirming the severity of the disease.
In a statement, the ministry recommended tightening health precautions, and imposing penalties against violators.
The statement pointed out that despite the decrease in the number of cases admitted to the COVID-19 isolation centers, there is a noticeable increase in the death caused by the disease.
During the Emergency Technical Committee’s meeting at the Ministry of Health HQ, the ministry indicated that the percentage of people infected during the second quarter had reached 27.7%.
The percentage was described as very high compared to the global average.
