Rwanda will acquire a first batch of one million COVID-19 vaccines by next month, a senior official from Rwanda Biomedical Center (RBC) announced Thursday.According to the Director General of RBC, DR Sabin Nsanzimana, Rwanda is yet to acquire two types of vaccines, namely; AstraZeneca and Moderna.
“We are ready to receive and properly administer AstraZeneca and Moderna vaccines by using the already existing cold supply chain,” Dr Nsanzimana said.
According to him, there is a hope that the country will be among the first countries in Africa to receive them.
Among the listed primary beneficiaries, it includes the population at high risk of containing the virus as well as essential workers.
Rwanda is currently currently part of the Covax framework, a global initiative that aims to speedily and affordably secure doses of the Covid-19 vaccine for member countries, once the vaccine is available.
Government is projecting to mobilize a total budget of $15 million that on acquiring doses of the vaccine once it is available by next month, it said.
According to Dr Tharcisse Mpunga, the Minister of State in charge of Primary Healthcare, the first phase will be of vaccinating 30 percent of the entire population and as time goes by, we’ll vaccinate more and more priority groups such as police officers, students and others.
