Senegal to launch COVID-19 vaccination next week with Chinese vaccine

DAKAR - Senegal will launch its COVID-19 vaccination campaign next Tuesday, Senegalese Minister of Health and Social Action Abdoulaye Diouf Sarr announced Thursday night.

Invited on Senegalese public television, Sarr said the ministry will launch the large-scale vaccination operation following the establishment of a monitoring committee. He invited the Senegalese to mobilize for the success of the campaign.

Senegalese President Macky Sall welcomed on Wednesday night the first doses of COVID-19 vaccine acquired from China's pharmaceutical group Sinopharm.

Apart from the 200,000 doses of Sinopharm vaccine, Sall said that his country had started the process of acquiring other vaccines, and would receive 6.798 million doses in the coming weeks for mass vaccination.

The country plans to vaccinate 20 percent of its population, which is about 3.5 million people, in the first phase of mass vaccination.

Senegal has reported 32,099 COVID-19 cases, with 26,363 recoveries and 781 deaths.