Frontline health workers and people with underlying medical conditions would get first priority as the government considers unveiling the coronavirus vaccines in the first half of 2021.

A senior official says plans are underway to make available the vaccines, which are currently in use in the United States and at testing phases in some European countries.

“South Sudan is one of the countries that will be receiving the COVID-19 vaccine doses and it will be brought to the country through a coordination between World Health Organization, the United Nations Children Funds and the Ministry of Health,” Angelo Goup Thon, Director of Emergency Preparedness and Response Manager told The City Review.

Thon said discussions were ongoing with health partners pertaining to the numbers of doses to be allocated to the African continent before South Sudan claims its share.

“We will know how many doses are there for each African country and South Sudan will claim its doses and then WHO and UNICEF Would help to transport these vaccines from Europe to South Sudan,” he said.

He added that UNICEF and the Ministry of Health would take care of the vaccines which require proper storage, safely under a cool temperature. Thon confirmed that the distribution plan will target frontline workers and people living with underlying medical health conditions.

“The distribution plan will be targeting the frontline health care workers who are directly engaged in the coronavirus response in the country and the second class will be the elderly people and those that are HIV positive and other chronic diseases, and then the third category will now be the general population,” he said.

Thon distribution arrangements are in place and the government would be in charge of disbursing the vaccines to the ten states and the three administrative areas of the country.

“Before transporting those vaccines, we will have a trained team from the national level, both from the partners and the government on how to inject the vaccines,” he said.

The World Health Organization’s Emergencies Program Manager Wamala Joseph said the vaccine trials were done and the data where submitted to the World Health Organization for approval.

“Some of the developed countries don’t have to wait for the review by WHO but that process has already been started by WHO to ensure that the data from the two trials is reviewed before the vaccines can be used but this should not be an impediment for other countries to have access to the vaccines.

“Remember we have what is called the COVAX facility, so within this facility over 2 billion doses will be available to Africans and each country should be assured to receive vaccines with funding from World Bank to cater for at least 20% of the population that is prioritized by the country for vaccination,” Wamala explained.

He added that most countries are now prioritizing frontline health care workers but also people who are at high risk of dying from COVID-19 and mostly the elderly and those with underlying health conditions

According to the World Health Organization, the COVID-19 vaccines “work by training and preparing the body’s natural defences — the immune system— to recognize and fight off the viruses and bacteria they target.

“If the body is exposed to those disease-causing germs later, the body is immediately ready to destroy them, preventing illness.”