Mozambique: Pregnant, breastfeeding women to be vaccinated from Wednesday

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Mozambique: Pregnant, breastfeeding women to be vaccinated from Wednesday

8:19 CAT | 19 Oct 2021

Image: Miramar

Mozambique will vaccinate pregnant and lactating women aged at least 18 years and three weeks of gestation against Covid-19 in the new phase of vaccination that starts on Wednesday the health ministry said on Tuesday.

“The World Health Organisation has approved the possibility for us to vaccinate pregnant and lactating women. These two groups were not vaccinated in the previous phases because the plan did not foresee it. With the new scientific evidence, Mozambique will start vaccinating [these groups],” said Ivan Manhiça, vaccination campaign coordinator at the health ministry, during a press conference in Maputo.

The third phase of immunisation, which begins on Wednesday in the country, is expected to cover, in addition to pregnant and lactating women, people over 30 years old.

Mozambique hopes to vaccinate 7 million people in this phase, which will run until the end of March next year, involving around 15,000 health technicians.

“We will preferably use the Johnson & Johnson vaccine (single-dose) in rural areas so that older people do not have to come back for the second dose,” said Ivan Manhiça, adding that the single-dose will also have a major impact on the logistics of the process.

The vaccination process against the new coronavirus in Mozambique started in March, covering priority groups including health professionals and police officers, followed by mass vaccination in August.

Mozambique has used three vaccines in the vaccination process: Verocell, Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca, Manhiça said.

According to the health authorities, around 2 million people have been vaccinated in Mozambique, almost 12% of the 17 million people that the government aims to cover by the end of 2022.

The country reached the peak of the third wave in July and has seen a consistent reduction in all epidemiological indicators.

Mozambique has had 1,927 deaths due to Covid-19 and 151,112 cases, 98% recovered from the disease.

The Covid-19 has caused at least 4,902,638 deaths worldwide, among more than 241.03 million infections by the new coronavirus recorded since the beginning of the pandemic, according to the latest balance of the agency France-Presse.

Source: Lusa