[ad_1]
Burundi will wait for more research to establish the effectiveness of Covid-19 vaccines before it can administer them, the country’s health minister said.
Dr Thadee Ndikumana said the country was ‘not against vaccines’ but insisted that so far vaccines are being used as an emergency response and there is no certainty guarantee on their possible side effects.
“Looking at the rate of people recovering from the disease, we have chosen to wait,” he said, adding that 96% of people who catch the virus recover.
Burundi does not have a deployment plan for the vaccination of its 12 million citizens.
Countries in the region, including Rwanda, Uganda and Kenya, have already started their vaccination campaigns.
Burundi has so far officially registered 2,618 cases of infections with just six deaths since the first case was detected at the end of March last year.
The minister defended the government against claims the infection rate may be higher, saying it was based on the number of people who had been diagnosed and tested positive by official health facilities.
Source link
