South Sudan will be receiving 35 to 40 per cent of the 800,000 AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine doses by the end of February 2021.

Officials from the Ministry of Health and World Health Organization (WHO) addressed a joint press conference over the weekend where they said that South Sudan would receive at least 300,000 jabs to begin the vaccination process.

The Coordinator of COVAX Dinceen Brendan told the media via zoom meeting that the COVAX facility had written to them communicating the impending shipment of the vaccines.

“We have been given indications that 35 to 40 per cent of the 864,000 dozen will be in the first charge   and subsequently that the reminder would come at a later point,” Brendan said

Doctor John Romunu said that the facility earlier had submitted vaccine deployment plan to the COVAX facility for approval

“We are happy to tell you that we received positive feedback from the COVAX facility and we are waiting for further guidance and the most important thing is that the vaccine has been approved,” he said

He said the vaccine was expected to arrive between Monday February 22 and the end of the month.