The government has postponed the launch of the COVID-19 vaccination which was planned to commence at J1 on Monday morning.
The media is yet to receive substantive information detailing the motivation behind the postponement of the launch.
On Sunday, COVID-19 Incident Manager Dr Richard Lako told the media that a personality from the presidency would take the jab to set precedence for the public. However, he failed to name the person who was to take the jab. The presidency comprises President Salva Kiir Mayardit, First Vice President Dr Riek Machar and other three vice presidents namely, Rebecca Nyandeng Garang, Dr James Wani Igga, Taban Deng and Abdelbaggi Ayii.
He said, “The launching will be in J1 and we hope of course to see that the leadership will show an example and we don’t have names yet but we will start vaccinating from there.
“J1 is just for starting and the [kick off] for the rest of the vaccination [exercises] will start on Tuesday 30th March.’’
Doses arrive
The country received 132,000 COVID-19 AstraZeneca vaccines supported by the COVAX and Gavi last week.
The consignment was just the first batch of the vaccines to be administered as the ministry of health plans phased inoculation beginning with frontline health workers, elderly people above 65 years and those with pre-existing diseases that make them predisposed to risks.
Dr. Lako explained that there would be three vaccination sites in Juba.
“We will be having three vaccinations sites. Juba Teaching Hospital will be having eight teams that will be doing vaccination within Juba Teaching Hospital.
“We will have another vaccination site at Buluk Police Hospital and this will cater for the regular forces that are there. We have another centre at the military hospital and that will cater for the army and the medical cops, ” Dr Lako explained.
Phased approach
He also said that the vaccination would start in phases starting with Juba City Council and later on the teams will concentrate in the states and counties.
“We will be targeting the health workers across the country because those are the key people. We are also looking at the Boma health initiative in social mobilisers that are working alongside the health workers in this area especially in Juba county.’’
He added that they would be focusing on the elderly persons for the short-run.
“The 132,000 of course will be not enough to cover the required numbers because, in our deployment plans, these numbers are over 400,000 for the age 65 and above.
“We also need to reach the front-line health workers and teachers,” he lamented.
He further added that they are in communication with COVAX Facility and Gavi to ensure that they bridge the gap and inoculate the first line target population.