S. Sudan to benefit from 2 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines

JUBA The European Union said on Friday that South Sudan will benefit from 2 million doses of COVID-19 to be distributed  to African countries in coming months to strengthen its fight against the deadly pandemic.

Christian Bader, head of the European Union delegation to South Sudan said said the first consignment of the vaccine is expected to reach the country before the end of the first quarter of 2021.

“We hope it will happen anytime soon before the end of the first quarter of this year. This is the target we have and we are going to start operation but not massive the operation,” said Bader during the handover of COVID-19 protective equipment at the Ministry of Health in Juba.

Bader said European Union has developed 2 million does to combat the spread of the deadly disease.

“EU and it member state are among the largest contributor to COVID facility. So what is the COVID facility, I have one word about it, it’s 8,53,000,000 Euro to process vaccines? We are talking about some like 2 millions of does by the end of 2021 and deliver them to low and middle-income countries including South Sudan,” he said.

He said they will target healthcare workers and elderly persons.

“We think about having 860,000 doses distributed within national  development vaccination plan and by installment not everything at the same time, targeting key priority group like elderly and healthcare workers,” he added.

“It will be an issue when you want to target people who are in remote areas. Again, when I went two-day ago to Bor and Panyagor, it was very remote, you know, you have to fly by helicopter, you will not have a freeze in the helicopter, so it is all these challenges that we are going to meet,” he added.