The Gambia government is expecting to receive its second batch of Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine in April despite rumours of suspected blood clot around the vaccine.
World Health Organisation is supporting the country with 20% of its recommended vaccine for developing countries – which is expected to be coming in phases.
“We are expecting to receive our second batch of the vaccine in April,” an official from the Ministry of Health told a town hall summit on Wednesday.
The nation’s Ministry of Health has kicked off rolling out of the AstraZeneca vaccine which saw President Adama Barrow receiving the first jab – aimed to dismiss conspiracy theory around the coronavirus vaccines.
Meanwhile, the World Health Organisation has advised The Gambia to continue rolling out the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, despite suspected blood clots concerns around the vaccine.
Several European countries and some African nations have temporarily halted rolling out the vaccine over blood clots suspicion, but the World Health Organisation assured the vaccine’s safety and advised the nations to continue using it.
“We were reliably informed by WHO to give it a halt that’s why during the weekend we were not immunising, but as we speak now, we are advised to go ahead,” one of the health officials told journalists.
“There was a meeting by SME on Monday which involved technocrats and they conclude that we should continue with the vaccination,” another health official of the Ministry said.
The Gambia’s coronavirus infection surpassed 5,000 cases with more than150 deaths since the pandemic hit on the country in March 2020.
