Ethiopia to Start Booster Shots in New Covid-19 Vaccine Rollout
ADDIS ABABA – Ethiopia is set to start administering a booster shots a new COVID-19 vaccine rollout at the national level.
The second-round vaccine drive will begin nationwide as of Monday, Feb 14, said the Ministry of Health, as officials renew their push to contain the spread of the contagious Coronavirus in the country.
-‘Be vigilant’ –
In a statement on Saturday, the Ministry said the acute respiratory disease caused by the Coronavirus has remained to be a threat to public health.
As of Sunday evening, a total of 467, 498 confirmed cases and 7,424 related deaths have been reported in Ethiopia where nearly 160 severely sick patients are currently hospitalized.
Ethiopians need to remain vigilant and observe the Covid-19 protocol put in place as the disease is still claiming lives, said Yohannes Lakew, the vaccine campaign coordinator.
“The public need to be vaccinated to protect themselves and their families from the deadly disease,” said Yohannes, who is also a director of Maternal and Child health care directorate at the Ministry.
A total 20 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine have already been distributed for the second round campaign to all regions, according to the Ministry.
Booster Shots
Ethiopia started offering the Covid-19 vaccine to its citizens on March 13, 2021. Since then, it has administered a total of 10,975, 742 doses. Nearly 9.4 Million people have also been fully vaccinated.
Like the previous one, the second vaccination campaign targets people aged 12 and beyond.
“And those who need a booster dose could also be vaccinated,” he said, adding the ministry has already deployed trained vaccinators as part of the immunization campaign.
In the first round, the Ministry deployed over 28,000 vaccinators in the campaign involving Sinopharm, AstraZeneca, Johnson & Johnson, and Pfizer vaccines.
The Pfizer vaccine was administered to the 12-18 years age group in 62 cities, while the other vaccines were given to people aged 18 years and older across the country.
