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Sudan received its first coronavirus vaccines on Wednesday and will begin inoculating frontline medical staff next week, health officials said.
The first shipments arriving at Khartoum airport include 828,000 doses of the AstraZeneca / Oxford vaccine.
Sudan has secured a total of 3.4 million doses, which are expected to arrive in the coming months through COVAX, a UN-led initiative that provides injections to poor countries.
Inoculation of around 414,000 medical staff across the country will begin “next week,” Dalia Idris, head of the health ministry responsible for coordinating the deployment of vaccines, told AFP.
“The vaccine will be available for free,” Health Minister Omar al-Naguib told a press conference in Khartoum, noting that primary care doctors and the elderly will be the first to receive the vaccine.
More batches are expected to arrive, so that by the end of September 20 percent of Sudan’s 40 million people are beaten.
The virus has so far infected more than 28,500 people in Sudan and killed nearly 1,900, according to official data.
Sudan is going through a difficult political transition and a worsening economic crisis following the April 2019 ousting of longtime autocrat Omar al-Bashir.
Wednesday’s announcement came nearly a month after Sudan unveiled a new cabinet.
Rampant inflation and chronic hard currency shortages have put pressure on a population that has long struggled to afford basic necessities.
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