CAPE TOWN – Senegal will receive its first doses of the Covid-19 vaccine in March, according to Dr Mamadou Ndiaye, the director of prevention of the Senegalese ministry of health and social action.
According to a report by Chinese-based Xinhua News Agency, Ndiaye, who was speaking during an interview with radio Sud FM, said members of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, including Senegal, would have these first doses after approval by the World Health Organisation (WHO).
Xinhua reported that Senegalese minister of health and social action, Abdoulaye Diouf Sarr, recently said the West African country had not chosen a vaccine at this stage, but that it was participating in the international mechanism for group purchasing of vaccines.
On Thursday, the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention released a survey conducted by the Africa CDC, in partnership with the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) has shown that a predominant majority (79 percent average) of respondents in Africa would take a Covid-19 vaccine if it were deemed safe and effective.
Conducted between August and December 2020, the survey interviewed more than 15,000 adults, aged 18 years and above, across 15 African countries, including Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Gabon, Kenya, Malawi, Morocco, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa, Sudan, Tunisia and Uganda, the Africa CDC says.
Professor Heidi Larson, study co-lead and director of the Vaccine Confidence Project at London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine said that engaging with communities and being responsive to their concerns and information needs around the Covid-19 vaccine will be crucial to building trust not only around Covid-19 vaccine, but for vaccines in general, the Africa CDC says.
According to real-time data, Senegal has recorded 17,451 cases since March, including 355 deaths, while 16,384 people have recovered from the virus, reports Worldometers.
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