APS : MONDAY 11 JANUARY 2021
ALGIERS – The reception by Algeria of the first batch of Russian Covid-19 vaccine, Spoutnik V, is “imminent,” said Monday the spokesman for the Scientific Committee in charge of the Coronavirus pandemic
follow-up, Dr Djamel Fourar. Dr Fourar also serves as the Health Ministry’s manager for prevention.
“The reception is imminent. The vaccine will be received probably tomorrow or the day after. This remains dependent on the actions made by the Pasteur Institute of Algeria (IPA) with the Russian partner to acquire the vaccine,” Fourar told the National Radio, adding “the vaccination rollout will be launched upon receipt of the vaccine.”
He added that “in addition to the Russian vaccine, the supplies will be varied,” referring to the existence of “great global tension.”
However, Dr Fourar affirmed that “within the WHO’s COVAX system, Algeria will be able to receive during the first quarter of 2021, between 8 and 10 million doses enough to vaccinate 20% of the population,”
“There are other vaccines that interest us, because they have the same characteristics as Sputnik V,” said the official, citing the British vaccine AsrtraZenica.
Last Sunday, the official also said that the Health Ministry held a meeting with the provincial public health directors in order to “give them the last directives before the start of the vaccination campaign.”
The meeting focused in particular on “the general organization and planning of vaccination across the 8000 health facilities used to this type of operation.”
Algeria “has set the objective of vaccinating at least 80% of the population to achieve group immunity,” he announced, noting that “priorities are the healthcare personnel, the elderly and the vulnerable”.
“The campaign will be spread over several months, even a year. Thus, it is necessary to stagger the supply of vaccines so as to be able to immunize all priority people,” he explained.
