The government has assured South Sudanese people that the launch of vaccination exercise against COVID-19 is on course.

The government took to Twitter on Tuesday evening to alleviate the fears surrounding the vaccine, as it affirmed that a meeting with the ministry of health officials cleared all the concerns. What remains now is to launch the inoculation drive.

The tweet 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.’’

A much-hyped launch of the vaccination exercise which was to start at the doors of the State House, popularly known as J1, failed to take off on Monday. The press was never informed of what inspired the change of plans but come Tuesday, President Salva Kiir and a contingent of high-ranking state officers were holed in a meeting with the ministry of health away the glares of the camera.

No communication was forthcoming until the State House penned a lengthy statement recounting the engagement on social media.

Fears addressed

The body language revealed probable safety concerns that had to attract the intervention of medical experts.

‘‘During the Presentation, the medical doctors said, AstraZeneca is a coronavirus vaccine developed by scientists in Oxford University in England and was granted emergency use listing by the World Health Organization and FDA.’’ The government tweet read, adding: ‘‘The medical professionals told the government officials that this Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine has also been granted regulatory approval by South Sudan Drugs and Food Control Authority.’’

‘‘President Salva Kiir accepted the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine for South Sudan and urged the Ministry of Health and the national taskforce to continue with their plans to officially launch the mass vaccination against Covid-19 to help protect the people of South Sudan,’’ it proceeded to note.

The vaccination program will feature the administration of 132,000 doses which jetted into the country last week. The consignment was the first batch of the 800,000 vaccines the country made a bid for to inoculate the population in the first phases.