Cameroon has received its first consignment of the British AstraZeneca vaccine used in the fight against the COVID-19.

The plane carrying over 391,100 doses of the British vaccine touched down at the Nsimalen International Airport last Saturday just around 7.15 pm.

On hand to receive the vaccines were the Minister of Public Health, Dr Malachie Manaouda, several ambassadors and representatives of the United Nations Systems in Cameroon.

Receiving the consignment of Vaccines, the Minister of Public Health, Dr Malachie Manaouda lauded the collective efforts of the government and it partners to intensify the fight against the pandemic in Cameroon.

He added that teams will immediately begin dispatching the vaccines to the various regions to boost the other lots of the Sinopharm vaccine that were sent out last week.

On his part, the Resident Representative of the World Health Organisation in Cameroon Fabien Nsabimana said they will continue to work closely with the government to ensure the vaccination exercise meets its target.

The arrival of the AstraZeneca vaccine comes just a week after the first consignment of 200,000 doses of the Chinese Sinopharm vaccine were received and distributed across the regions.

For the moment, 243 vaccination sites have been set up across the country with the vaccination exercise being coordinated by the Incident Manager, Dr Alain Georges Etoundi Mballa in collaboration with all the ten Regional Delegates of Public Health.

Health workers have been the main target since the vaccination process kicked off last week but the Minister of Public Health has encouraged the general population to go out and get vaccinated with more consignments of the vaccine are set to arrive the country.