The fight continues against the coronavirus. And mutual aid is essential between the different countries. Côte d’Ivoire has received 1.2 million doses of Pfizer vaccine offered by the United States. The goal ? Fight against Covid-19, while the country has experienced a sharp rise in contamination in recent weeks, the Ivorian Ministry of Health announced on Saturday.
The vaccine doses arrived Friday evening in Abidjan, the Ivorian economic capital, via the Covax system.
Reinforcements are welcome
“The United States is pleased to support the government of Côte d’Ivoire in its fight against this pandemic (…) and for its great efforts to curb transmission and vaccinate populations” declared its ambassador in Abidjan , Richard Bell, in a press release.
On Thursday, Ivorian President Alassane Ouattara came out of a two-week confinement during which he tested positive for Covid-19, then negative, the presidency announced in a statement.
Côte d’Ivoire hopes to be able to vaccinate 60% of its adult population against Covid-19 by the end of the year, the government spokesman said at the end of July, The latter wants to accelerate the vaccination process, while many African countries are behind schedule for lack of available doses.
“The long-term objective is to reach 60% of the population aged 18 and over, with a target of one million people to be vaccinated per month”, or seven million individuals at the end of the year, explained Amadou Coulibaly.
For the moment, Africa depends mainly on the international Covax mechanism and on donations, which are arriving in small quantities.
It includes a funding mechanism that allows 92 nations with a low or medium level of economic development to have free access to vaccines.
Côte d’Ivoire less affected than some African countries
Côte d’Ivoire, a country of about 25 million inhabitants, is relatively unaffected by the virus, but, according to official figures, there has been a significant increase in cases of contamination in recent weeks.
Friday, 331 new cases were recorded, bringing to 53,247 the number of confirmed cases including 380 fatal since the start of the pandemic in 2020, according to the Ministry of Health.
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