#COVID19: Over 16,000 Gabonese Soldiers, Police Receive Vaccination

Gabonese soldiers and police are the highest vaccinated groups against the COVID-19 in the country after 16,099 received the jab, representing 8.1 per cent of the number of persons vaccinated throughout the national territory.

This followed an initial reluctance of security personnel to take the vaccination after firm orders given by their different hierarchies on the reception of a stock of SINOPHARM vaccines reserved exclusively for personnel of the defense and security forces.

A total of 100,000 doses of the SINOPHARM vaccine were reserved for security personnel in Gabon but only a few made themselves available until the end of May this year. 

But Gen. Yves Ditengou, the country’s Army Chief of Staff, gave the stern order to all security operatives to get themselves vaccinated, on June 1, 2021.

“The idea was to have the best idea about the health situation of service personnel,” Gen. Ditengou said.

The measure was followed a few weeks later by the limitation of access to military facilities by unvaccinated individuals.

However, health personnel have continued to remain indifferent to different calls for them to get the jab.

So far, less than four per cent of medical staff have voluntarily submitted themselves for vaccination as of Dec. 6, 2021, according to figures made available by the National Committee for Vaccination (COPIL).

Gabon currently has 37,626 COVID-19 positive cases with 285 deaths recorded since March 2020.