All players and staff of the Rwandan national football team on Tuesday received Covid-19 vaccination jabs according to local media in Kigali, quoting officials at the Sports ministry.
The move comes after Rwanda earlier this week began administering COVID-19 vaccines to all categories of people at high risk of contracting the virus.
Hassan Sibomana, the director of the vaccination unit at Rwanda Biomedical Centre, said the initial challenge of lack of capacity to store vaccines — which are required to be stored at minus 70 Celsius (minus 158 Fahrenheit) — has been addressed.
Currently, the country has a capacity to store about 300,000 vaccine doses.
In the first phase, the country purchased vaccines from AstraZeneca, a British-Swedish pharmaceutical company, and Moderna, an American biotechnology firm.
Five new ultra-cold freezers worth around $50,000 were purchased while other equipment to be used to distribute the vaccines to different parts of the country are also ready, according to the Health ministry.
Under current testing phase, all beneficiaries of the COVID-19 jab are getting it free of charge.
These include health care personnel, people with disabilities and the elderly aged 65 years and above.
CU/as/APA