In October, AstraZeneca will provide 48,000 vaccination doses to South Sudan.

South Sudan’s national health ministry plans to get 48,000 doses of Covid-19 AstraZeneca vaccines from the worldwide COVAX Facility this month.

“We have got a notice from COVAX Facility of 48,000 doses of AstraZeneca for South Sudan for October,” stated Dr John Rumunu, Acting Covid-19 Incident Manager at the Ministry of Health. So, we still don’t know when they’ll arrive, but the total amount of dosages is 48,000.”

Dr Rumunu went on to say that the ministry of health has used 91 per cent of the 119,520 doses of AstraZeneca vaccinations it has received since April of this year.

“As you are all aware, we got two batches of AstraZeneca, totalling 119,520 doses. I am pleased to announce that 91% of this has been deployed, and we now have zero doses in the cold chain. We completed the final batch immunization on September 30, and I am pleased to announce that not a single vial has expired,” Dr Rumunu said.

According to the Ministry of Health, AstraZeneca vaccines have been given to 108,685 individuals since immunizations began in April of this year.

Dr Rumunu said that the ministry would begin deploying and administering the Johnson & Johnson vaccination on October 8, 2021.

Dr Joseph Wamalla, World Health Organization (WHO) Health Emergency Preparedness Officer in South Sudan, said that vaccination rates are typically low in Africa. An extra 470 million doses are required to meet the December goal.

“In terms of vaccine coverage for African nations relative to the safe goal, just 14 countries were able to meet the 10% target by the end of September last month. 

“The 40 per cent goal that is anticipated for all nations by the end of this year has only been achieved by three African countries, Mauritius and Morocco, and only one country, Seychelles, has surpassed the 70 per cent target,” Dr Wamala added. “Africa will need an extra 470 million doses to meet the December goal, on top of what the African Union and COVAX have committed.”

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), Africa would need 930 million doses to achieve the 40% goal by the end of 2021.

On Saturday, South Sudan reported 14 Covid-19 positive cases, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 12,035, 11,617 recoveries, and 130 fatalities.