The British Government considers supporting the Rwandan Government in its ongoing efforts to buy COVID-19 vaccine after health authorities in the East African nation announced the near future move to sign the first ever agreement with the supplier, a diplomatic source confirmed Sunday.
According to Bhavik Shah, the Political Attache at the British High Commission in Kigali, this will be part of Britain’s commitment to invest billions of pounds in the global fight against the virus and will not rest until everyone is safe.
However, as vaccine supply will be limited at least initially, the Rwandan government has specified certain groups that will take priority to receive vaccines first.
These include people at higher risk of exposure to COVID-19 (such as health-care workers), and those who are more vulnerable to severe disease (such as older people).
Commenting on the move, the British diplomat explained that London was committed to ensuring that everyone who needs the vaccines gets it . “We will make sure Rwanda is among these countries,” he said.
In the meanwhile, some health experts note that all COVID-19 vaccines are likely to require at least two doses.
The most challenging issue is that if supply is limited, it may become difficult to make sure private patients get their second dose compared to health workers on the frontline of COVID-19 who are mostly employed by the Government
It said delays or missing the second dose will likely lead to lower effectiveness.
Rwanda so far has confirmed 6,528 Covid-19 cases, of whom 5,892 have already recovered.
According to Saturday’s Covid-19 update, a young girl aged 14 and a 61-year-old man succumbed to the virus in Rwanda, raising the country’s Covid-19 death toll to 56.
CU/abj/APA