By Amin Kef Sesay
On Monday 8 March 2021 ,Sierra Leone received the first batch of 96,000 doses of the AstraZeneca-Oxford COVID-19 vaccine shipped via the COVAX Facility, a partnership between the Government of Sierra Leone, CEPI, Gavi, UNICEF and WHO.
From what this medium understood, such is a historic step towards ensuring equitable distribution of COVID-19 vaccines globally, in what will be the largest vaccine procurement and supply operation in history.
The delivery is part of a first wave of arrivals of an initial 528,000 doses that will continue till the end of May 2021.
On 6 March 2021, COVAX shipped 96,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine, licensed and manufactured by Serum Institute (PVT) Limited from Maharashtra, India, to Freetown, Sierra Leone, arriving in the evening of 8 March 2021.
The arrival of this first batch of 528,000 doses will kick start the vaccination of 20% of Sierra Leone’s 8,000,000 population as part of the COVAX Facility in its unprecedented effort to deliver at least 2 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines by the end of 2021. This initial consignment of the vaccine and the immediate subsequent shipments will prioritize critical target groups such as frontline health professionals, vulnerable including the aged people and people with underlying health conditions.
“Throughout 2020, our health facilities have been faced with the task of responding to the pandemic, while at the same time, working to sustain the regular essential services including providing maternal and child health services,” said the Minister of Health and Sanitation. “The lifesaving vaccines which are now available for COVID-19, combined with the other important measures which we have adopted since the pandemic started, will afford us a good prospect to return to normalcy and to fulfil our obligations under the Universal Health Coverage programme.”
“We are delighted Sierra Leone has today received its first COVAX vaccine doses and we look forward to the launch of the vaccination campaign in the coming days. Thanks to the work of the Government of Sierra Leone and of the COVAX partners, and with the support of our donors, we have been delivering on our promise to begin vaccinating vulnerable populations around the world delivering over 10 million doses to our participating economies in the last 10 days.” said Charlie Wetham, Regional Head, Asia Pacific and Anglophone Africa at of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance.
“The arrival of this first batch of Covid-19 vaccines in Sierra Leone under the COVAX Facility is testimony to the power of global solidarity in response to a global health and development crisis. Strong international solidarity is similarly required to address other pressing global challenges such as the climate crisis that threatens the world’s quest for sustainable development,” said Mr Babatunde Ahonsi, United Nations Resident Coordinator in Sierra Leone.
