South Sudan runs out of COVID-19 vaccines
“Health authorities say country has exhausted its supply of AstraZeneca doses received under COVAX facility.”
News & Analysis: South Sudan
“Health authorities say country has exhausted its supply of AstraZeneca doses received under COVAX facility.”
“The G7 has promised to donate 1 billion Covid vaccine doses by the end of 2021. However, in South Sudan, COVID-19 restrictions, aid cuts and comments by European leaders have shattered trust in public health advice and encouraged vaccine hesitancy. Despite the rhetoric, donating vaccines while cutting aid may prove meaningless.”
“South Sudan’s National Task Force on COVID-19 is sending back 72,000 doses of AstraZeneca vaccine to the COVAX facility for use in other countries before the doses expire. South Sudan received 132,000 doses in late March from COVAX, a global coalition that works to ensure fair and equitable access of coronavirus vaccines worldwide.”
“Malawi has destroyed almost 20,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine, while South Sudan has 59,000 doses which it also plans to discard. The vaccines had been donated through the African Union but had not been administered by their expiry date of 13 April.”
“South Sudan, emerging from six years of brutal civil war, faces serious logistical difficulties in transporting the vaccine around the country, due to lack of roads and security challenges.”
“Young volunteers leading COVID-19 campaigns are connecting with and engaging local leaders—women’s groups, teachers, priests, imams, village heads, healers, and elders—in their communities. Together they are devising microsolutions needed to isolate patients, care for the ill, implement social distancing within existing conditions, and support families in distress.”
“Instead of focusing strictly on even distribution, COVAX could incorporate other factors in prioritisation, such as provision of sound distribution plans and accountable tracking mechanisms to ensure that limited resources provide the most benefit.”
“The disbursement will help finance South Sudan’s urgent balance of payments needs and provide critical fiscal space to maintain poverty-reducing and growth-enhancing spending.”
“This delivery is the product of an unprecedented global partnership to ensure every country has access to COVID-19 vaccines. These vaccines are safe, they are effective, and they will be an important tool in the fight against this disease.”
“More than 20 junior and senior administrators in South Sudan’s Office of the President have contracted the Covid-19 and are under quarantine, Presidential Press Secretary Ateny Wek Ateny has confirmed.”