As announced by Sílvia Lutucuta, the national minister of public health, the vaccination campaign against covid19 has indeed started in Angola.
It is at the central vaccine depot located in the Palanca district of Luanda that Amélia Gourgel, a 71-year-old doctor, received the first dose of astrazeneca throughout the Angolan territory this Tuesday, March 2.
Speaking for the occasion, the Minister of Public Health has shown the importance for the country to have these 624 thousand doses of astrazeneca vaccine under the initiative of Covax, and informed the population who came for the occasion that this vaccine has an effectiveness of 70 to 80%, and is proven and approved by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the European Medicines Agency and also informed the population that the first dose of this vaccine is admitted to the right arm, The government’s plan is to vaccinate at least 53% of the population aged 16 years and over because they are vulnerable to infection, she added;
Djimal Cabral, the WHO representative in Angola, assured journalists that several countries will donate this vaccine to Angola, including Portugal, which plans to do so next month,
This diplomat told the journalist that no country will be spared if all countries do not manage to vaccinate at least 20% of its population, and this is the work that the WHO is doing to ensure that the Covax vaccine arrives safely everywhere.
And to continue that the acceptance of this vaccine is a green light for Angola in the fight against covid19 .
The whole thing was concluded with the inauguration of a vaccine storage site with a capacity of 74 million doses.
Zephy Pengume
