Democratic Republic of Congo launches COVID-19 vaccination campaign

The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) on Monday kicked off the COVID-19 vaccination campaign for the high-risk vulnerable population after it received 1.7 million AstraZeneca vaccine doses through COVAX Facility last month. The drive was launched by the DR Congo’s Health Minister Eteni Longondo at University Clinics of Kinshasa in the presence of some of the representatives of the EU, according to Africa news. The Central African country lifted the curfew last week in areas that recorded a low tally of the novel COVID-19 infections. The country had imposed a strict curfew in the capital Kinshasa, which recently started to record the dip in the daily average of COVID-19 cases. 

DR Congo had postponed the vaccination drive from 15 March," as a precaution” after the reports of blood clots from the AstraZeneca vaccines emerged. Interior Minister Gilbert Kankonde told African news that a team of Congolese experts had inducted a detailed analysis into the efficacy of the vaccine and have reassured that the AstraZeneca vaccine does not present any inconvenience to the population. Furthermore, speaking at a public news conference, Health Minister Eteni Longondo said that there were more advantages than disadvantages to being vaccinated. In order to encourage the public to get the jab, he was among the first to be inoculated at the University of Kinshasa's Faculty of Medicine. The African country plans to inoculate the frontline health workers, medics, elderly vulnerable population, people with comorbidity among others from its population of more than 80 million. 

World Bank funding

Last month, World Bank on Tuesday raised an emergency COVID-19 vaccine fund to help start the mass vaccination campaign for the vulnerable groups in at least 30 African countries. The efforts were initiated after the African continent hit the grim milestone of 3.9 million confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus and close to 104,000 fatalities with no access to the immunization. Meanwhile, the rich countries procured enough supplies to give each person at least four doses, according to an analytical report. The vaccine disparity between rich and poor countries grew wider with wealthier nations ramping up the supplies.  The financially challenged African nations heavily relied on World Health Organization (WHO’s) vaccine-sharing scheme COVAX. The World Bank, meanwhile, announced that it was funding for African countries which includes the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Niger, Mozambique, Tunisia, eSwatini, Rwanda, and Senegal, without disclosing the actual amount.