Kinshasa, April 21nd, 02021 (ACP).- The province of North Kivu received 60,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine on Wednesday, used in several countries around the world in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic.
The provincial Minister in charge of Health of Nord Kivu, Eugene Nzanzu Syalita, announced the start of the vaccination campaign on May 1st in his province precisely in the cities of Goma, Butembo and Beni. 16 health zones in these aforementioned cities and their outskirts are targeted and vaccination will be done gradually according to the doses of vaccine that will be in their possession, he said.
He recalled that the vaccine is voluntary and only people over the age of 55 will be vaccinated as well as people who suffer from chronic diseases, or even health providers who are on the front line in the fight against the pandemic.
For the head of the office of UNICEF Nord Kivu, Jean Ludovic Metenier, AstraZeneca vaccine has already demonstrated its effectiveness everywhere else and the risk of this vaccine is extremely limited. Unicef’s contribution in this fight is to facilitate and mobilize vaccine logistics so that the authorities can implement vaccination campaigns in the provinces that have been targeted, he said. ACP/