#COVID19: Dr Congo To Receive 26 Million Vaccines As Available Stocks Expire
The country recently had to dispose of expired COVID-19 vaccines due to citizen reluctance in using them.
The Democratic Republic of Congo has announced it is expecting several doses of COVID-19 vaccines next month following the rupture of stocks occasioned by the expiration of the AstraZeneca doses the country acquired earlier.
According to Dr Jean-Jacques Mbungani, the country’s Minister of Public Health, Hygiene and Prevention, “the country is right now in a rupture of stock but thanks to the COVAX facility, we would receive 50,000 does of the AstraZeneca vaccine in four weeks and 250,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine at the same time.”
“During the month of September, 4.6 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine will also arrive,” Dr Mbungani added.
“Within the context of bilateral accords with China, we are expecting 200,000 doses of SINOVAC and within the context of the African Union, we are expecting about 26 million doses of the Johnson&Johnson vaccine but the negotiations are still ongoing.”
“These last doses will arrive in two stages, the first one comprising 10 million doses and the second consignment of 16 million doses,” the Minister revealed during a press briefing in Kinshasa on Thursday, July 15, 2021.
Within the context of the COVAX programme, the DR Congo has since March this year received 1,716,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine while vaccination officially started in the country in early April.
“These vaccines having a precise expiry date, saw 100,000 doses being disqualified in the provinces for having expired and 7,000 doses in Kinshasa alone,” the minister indicated.
Since the beginning of vaccination in the DR Congo on April 19, 2021 with the AstraZeneca vaccine, 75,789 persons have been vaccinated with the first dose in 13 provinces as of July 10, 2021. Of this number, only 2,015 persons have so far returned for a second dose.
Since the beginning of the pandemic in the country on March 10, 2020, 45,211 positive cases have been confirmed, 28,801 persons successfully treated while 984 died.
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