The ministry of health together with its partners announced on Sunday that the country will be receiving other doses of the Johnson and Johnson vaccines.
“On Tuesday in the morning, we will receive 300,000 and 36,000 Johnson and Johnson vaccine doses to continue to vaccinate as many people as possible,” Dr Brendan Dineen, South Sudan World Health Organisation Co-coordinator has confirmed.
“Additional vaccines have been approved and we are waiting for 93,600 as well as another 144,000 Johnson and Johnson COVID-19 vaccine doses. All the paperwork have been done and the vaccine will be in the country soon.’’
The country received its second batch of the Johnson and Johnson COVID-19 vaccine last week on December 10.
The vaccine was donated to South Sudan by the United States government through COVAX, which has been instrumental in extending the reach of the jabs in African countries.
The vaccination centres in Juba are located at Juba Teaching Hospital, Buluk Police Hospital, Military Hospital, Kator, Nyakuron, Munuki, and Gurei Primary Health Care Centers.
In September, the US donated 151,200 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine. This was the second donation by Johnson and Johnson from the US government.
According to the Ministry of Health and the World Health Organization, those who have already received the dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine are not permitted to take the Johnson and Johnson vaccine.
“Stick to one vaccine, if you have started with AstraZeneca, stick to it and if it is Johnson & Johnson, stick to it,” the Minister of Health, Elizabeth Achuei said during the reception of the first batch of J &J in September that the country was geared towards raising the vaccine uptake to match the requirements put in place by the World Health Organization.
WHO said they have distributed vaccines to more than 224 facilities across the country. These include all the 10 states’ three administrative areas. It added that 66 of the 80 countries have received the vaccine and that the remaining 14 countries are experiencing floods or have logistical difficulties.
The number of COVID-19 cases increased by 166 over the weekend.
The total cases currently under follow up are 867and the cumulative number up to date are 13,614 cases and the recovered numbers are 12,614.
The ministry is currently vaccinating its population and has started the deployment of Johnson and Johnson to the other states.