Sudan receives over 350,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccines from Germany
This is the fourth shipment of COVID-19 Vaccine doses to be received by Sudan since March 2021
KHARTOUM, 11 September 2021 – Sudan received a shipment of 357,000 doses of AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines from Germany. It had previously received over 1 million doses of AstraZeneca vaccines, 828,000 doses from the COVAX facility and over 218,000 doses from France. In addition, over 600,000 single dose Johnson & Johnson (J&J) COVID-19 vaccine donated by the United states through the COVAX facility.
The vaccines were delivered with UNICEF’s support through COVAX, a coalition co-led by the World Health Organization (WHO), Gavi (the Vaccine Alliance) and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), working on the equitable distribution of COVID-19 vaccines to countries regardless of their income.
“We are very happy to announce that a contribution of 357,600 AstraZeneca vaccine doses from the Government of the Federal Republic of Germany has arrived today in Khartoum. As the second largest donor to the initiative, we are committed to finding a multilateral solution to the pandemic and to ensuring fair, transparent, and affordable access to COVID 19 vaccines, medicines, and diagnostics around the globe. We are grateful to have such reliable partners as UNICEF and Sudan’s Ministry of Health at our side to ensure that the doses are distributed efficiently. COVAX is helping to vaccinate people worldwide – that is the only way to prevent the risk of constant new mutations of the virus. Nobody is safe until everybody is safe,” said H.E. Thomas Terstegen, the Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany to Sudan.
As of this week, the World Health Organization (WHO) puts the number of doses administered in Sudan at 1,129,054.
The priority group for the first round was mainly frontline health workers and all citizens over 45 years old with medical conditions. The vaccination campaigns with AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson continue to be underway with vaccination centres operational in many states around Sudan.
“We are pleased the vaccination centers across Sudan have started the second phase of the vaccination rollout last week. This shipment of AstraZeneca vaccines along with previous shipments will enable Sudan to reach those who has been waiting for their second dose of AstraZeneca vaccine to be fully vaccinated. We will continue supporting the Federal Ministry of Health (FMOH) to meet its targets of vaccinating 20 percent of the population in Sudan by 2021,” said Mandeep O’Brien, UNICEF Sudan Representative. With the ongoing second phase of the vaccination that was launched last week, the FMOH has included teachers as a priority target group for the vaccination with plans to reach teachers in Khartoum state through 11 vaccination centers and many more in the states. The campaign is in line with efforts to facilitate a safe return to school at the end of this month.
“We are hoping to reach 8 million of our population with the COVID vaccination by the end of the year as we continue our fight against COVID-19 with our partners. The pandemic has inspired a great sense of cooperation and joint efforts between countries with hopes to curb this virus and return to a normal life,” said Dr. Yosra Mohammed Osman, the Undersecretary of the Federal Ministry of Health.
“We are grateful to the German Government for the donation of AstraZeneca doses to Sudan. Through the COVAX Facility, GAVI ensures that all countries have an equal opportunity to access these life-saving vaccines. We continue to work towards leaving no one behind with immunization,” said Jamilya Sherova, the Senior Country Manager at GAVI.
UNICEF procured five large capacity units of Ultra Cold Chain equipment. This equipment will be the first Ultra Cold Chain capacity within the Immunization Supply Chain System in Sudan and UNICEF prepared all the necessary steps for its installment to ensure that Sudan is able to receive more than 1,274,130 doses of Pfizer COVID-19 vaccines.
Sudan recorded its first case of COVID-19 in March 2020 and as per last month, the confirmed cases stand at 37,640 with 2,822 deaths. The vaccines are giving hope in Sudan to mitigate the health and non-health impact of COVID.
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UNICEF promotes the rights and wellbeing of every child and is committed to the children of Sudan. We never give up on finding solutions that provide immediate help to save the lives of children or provide durable support so that those children grow up with dignity, health and an education.
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