Mozambique receives Covid-19 vaccines for adolescents – AIM report

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Mozambique receives Covid-19 vaccines for adolescents – AIM report

4:50 CAT | 02 Sep 2022

Photo: Noticias

Mozambique received on Monday 1,333,800 doses of Pfizer’s Covid-19 Vaccine, valued at 36.5 million US dollars, from the COVAX Initiative, to be used for immunization of the adolescent population (children aged between 12 and 17 years).

The 1,333,800 doses are the first two batches of a total of 4,899,960 doses that are expected to arrive in the country by 13 September, funded by the United States government.

Speaking during the reception ceremony in Maputo, Health Minister Armindo Tiago explained that the vaccines join the others that the country has received since the beginning of the pandemic, in the context of bilateral cooperation with other friendly states, as well as the national business community.

“This donation of vaccines, which we received today, will accelerate our National Vaccination Plan, at a time when our interest is to ensure the complete vaccination of adolescents between 12 and 17 years of age”, the Minister said.

He pledged that the government will launch the campaign to vaccinate adolescents on 27 September.

“The campaign will take place all over the country, where we expect to vaccinate about 4.8 million adolescents of the target group with two doses of vaccine”, he said. “Therefore, we want to take this opportunity to appeal to all those who are part of the 12 to 17 year old group to go to the vaccination posts the location of which will be announced in the coming days”.

Tiago explained that this type of vaccine requires unusual conservation conditions in the cold chain available in Mozambique, so 20 coolers were mobilized, with conservation capacity at very negative temperatures, between -90 and -60 degrees centigrade, and with a total volume estimated to house about five million doses.

The coolers will also be regulated in temperatures that house another type of vaccine in use in the country, “which represents a great advantage and contributes to the strengthening of our system.”

He revealed that the vaccines and their syringes, the coolers, the various accessories, and the prefabricated goods have a cost of approximately 36.5 million US dollars, coming from the COVAX initiative, with support from the US and German governments, GAVI, and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).

According to a press release from the US embassy, “with this delivery, the US Government has now donated over 5.8 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines to Mozambique. These donations are part of the larger U.S. Government coordinated effort to support Mozambique’s response to COVID-19 and strengthen Mozambique’s resilience to the virus and its variants”.

At the arrival ceremony, the US Ambassador to Mozambique, Peter Vrooman, said, “The United States is honored to be a strong partner of Mozambique in the health sector for decades. We are committed to doing all that we can to help Mozambique reach high vaccination rates among its entire population. Because of displays of solidarity, we have shown great resilience against this virus.”

Source: AIM