South Sudan failed to receive the much-awaited consignment of the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine yesterday.

The ministry of health revealed that the transportation hitch had played a part in delaying the arrival of the jab.

“The vaccine did not arrive, and it is a problem from the other side. It is due to a transportation issue. I think it is already in Nairobi (Kenya) pending the arrangement from the supply division, ” George Azania Legge, the extended Program on Immunization (EPI) Manager at the Ministry of Health, told The City Review yesterday.

Last week, the Ministry of Health and the World Health Organization (WHO) revealed that the country would receive the vaccine on Tuesday.

“On Tuesday we will be receiving another 168,000 doses of the Johnson and Johnson vaccine,” said Dr Brendan Dineen, South Sudan’s World Health Organization Co-coordinator.

But this did not happen as it had been planned.

Dr Brendan Dineen spoke to journalists during the COVID-19 weekly press briefing on Sunday at the Emergency Operation Centre in Juba.

According to the ministry of health and the World Health Organisation, the COVID-19 vaccination coverage indicated that AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson had been widely used in South Sudan.

Data from the ministry shows that 76.58 per cent of vaccines have been consumed so far, and the number of people fully vaccinated is 169,226.

The number of people waiting to receive their second dose of AstraZeneca is 47, 685, and the total doses administered to date is 254,604.

The current COVID-19 status in the country shows the cumulative number of tests performed up to December 6 is 271,658 since COVID-19 was confirmed in the country. The number of cases recovered is 12,463, the cumulative number of cases confirmed is 12,826, and the death cases are 133.