President Salva Kiir on Tuesday afternoon received his first jab of the AstraZeneca vaccine against the COVID-19 pandemic at his residence in Juba.
President’s spokesperson Ateny Wek Ateny was categorical that the president was not playing the hard ball by evading the vaccine.
He said the head of state ‘wanted to first get a medical advice from the health experts before he could be vaccinated.’
The newly appointed minister of presidential affairs Dr. Barnaba Marial Benjamin said “COVID-19 is dangerous and thanked the president for leading the campaign exercise in the fight against coronavirus.”
Three weeks ago, the government alleviated the fears surrounding the vaccine, as it affirmed that a meeting with the ministry of health officials cleared all the concerns.
A tweet was posted read: ‘‘A team of medical doctors and professionals from the Ministry of Health made a presentation of Coronavirus vaccine Oxford-AstraZeneca to President Salva Kiir and members of the Revitalized Transitional Government of National Unity on why this vaccine became the choice for South Sudan.
‘‘The presentation was made at the State House (J1) on Tuesday morning, 30th March 2021 for the officials to further deliberate on the subject matter before the official launch of the vaccination process across the Country.’’
Also, the Minister of Defense and Veterans Affairs AngelinaTeny had flagged off a similar exercise at Juba Military Hospital to allow the military officers to get vaccinated. Three centers have been established in Juba to vaccinate the frontline health workers, the police and military officers and citizens aged above 65 years.
On Wednesday April 7, the First Vice President Dr Riek Machar was also vaccinated against COVID-19 in Juba.
South Sudan received 132,000 doses of the Astra vaccine from the COVAX facility on March 27 for the first phase of the inoculation
The president was vaccinated in the presence of the Vice President of Service Delivery Cluster Hussein Abdelbaggi, the presidential Advisor on National Security Affairs Tut Gatluak Manime and a number of national ministers and senior officials in the office of the president were present.