In Senegal, one year after the confirmation of the first case of Covid-19, the first doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine, given as part of the global Covax initiative, are delivered this Wednesday morning. A lot that is in addition to the first 200,000 doses of the Chinese Sinopharm vaccine already received. Since the start of the campaign launched across the country a week ago, more than 35,000 people have been vaccinated. At the Yeumbeul communal hospital, in the suburbs of Dakar, after the health staff, it is the turn of people over 60 with chronic diseases to receive their doses.
with our correspondent in Dakar, Charlotte Idrac
Not even hurt ! In the hall of the hospital, Fatou Gaye, 74, diabetic, has just been stung in a good mood. All dressed in white, she shows her marked arm. ” Look at these traces, she said, I have been vaccinated since I was little, and I have never had a problem. »
Like her, Mamadou Faye first had to register, via the internet, on a platform of the Ministry of Health. In his entourage, some remain skeptical about the vaccine but he is convinced of its usefulness. “ It’s to protect me, I’m an old man, and you know, at 70 you are no longer afraid of anything! » And he explains to us that he also registered his wife, « it is for the well-being of society. ”
Fifty to sixty people on average are vaccinated here every day. The doses of the Sinopharm vaccine are stored in a brand new refrigerator, double locked …
Doctor Pape Samba Dieye, chief medical officer of the Yeumbeul health district, is impatiently awaiting the new doses. For him, nothing very new in this campaign except the public. ” Usually we vaccinate the children instead. »
This Wednesday, Senegal initially receives 324,000 doses as part of the Covax mechanism. Nearly 1 million additional vaccines are planned in the coming months.
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