Ethiopia Rolls out Second Round of Covid-19 Vaccination

ADDIS ABABA – Ministry of Health said a total of 400,000 doses of AstraZeneca vaccine are being distributed to regions as Ethiopia plans to roll out the second round Covid-19 immunization campaign on Wednesday.

Ethiopia obtained additional AstraZeneca doses from COVAX a few days ago, confirmed Ministry of health, a month after officials revealed they would receive 400, 000 more doses from the global partnership in June.

Speaking to reporters today, Health Minister Dr. Lia Tadesse said the doses are now being distributed to all regions via Ethiopian Pharmaceutical Supply Agency.

Dr. Lia also announced the administration of the second round AstraZeneca vaccine doses will start in Addis Ababa on Wednesday and in other regions on Friday.

The East African nation expects to get more 1.7 million doses in August, Dr. Lia said, that will help the country to push ahead with its immunization campaign.

Health officials launched the campaign on March 13 – a week after the country obtained 2.2 million AstraZeneca vaccine from the COVAX Facility. 

More than 2mln people have received the first dose of the vaccine. They will now be given the second round doses, according to the Ministry.

New variants

Officials said the Ethiopian Public Health Institute and Armor Hanson Research Institute have been doing testing of genomic sequencing of COVID-19 variants.

The Alpha and Beta genomes have been identified and detected in Ethiopia, according to the minister.

The institutions have also started the process of collecting samples to do the testing on Delta genomic sequencing.

The ministry will announce the results of the sequencing process, Dr. Lia said, who said there may be the Delta variant of COVID-19 in Ethiopia.

The Delta variant has already been detected in neighboring countries, with the UN World Health Organization confirming its presence in 16 African countries, including nine with surging cases. 

The ministry will continue working to enhance the capacity of genomic sequencing in collaboration with various partners such as Public Health England, it was learned.

Dr. Lia finally urged the public to strengthen preventive measures and non-pharmaceutical interventions as Africa is experiencing the third wave of COVID-19 pandemic.