South Sudan is expected to receive 168,000 doses of the Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccine on Tuesday, World Health Organisation (WHO) officials said.
Speaking to journalists in Juba on Sunday, WHO’s Covid-19 Vaccines Global Access (COVAX) coordinator in South Sudan, Dr. Brendan Dineen said the doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine are running out in most locations in the country and that more will arrive on Tuesday.
“The briefing is to let you know that on Tuesday we will receive another 168,000 doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine,” Dr. Dineen said. “The vaccines are almost finishing in some locations in the country. So, having the vaccine arrive on Tuesday, we will re-supply parts of the country.”
The WHO official said about 145,000 people have already taken the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.
For his part, Dr. John Rumunu, the director-general of health emergency preparedness and Covid-19 acting incident manager said: “We are on alert as our 7-day moving case count is around 11 to 12 cases per day. We continue to advise everyone to avoid overcrowding, use facemasks, wash hands and use hand sanitizers regularly and maintain social distance.”
In the past 24 hours, South Sudan confirmed 6 positive cases bringing the cumulative confirmed cases to 12,819 and 12,463 recoveries, including 133 deaths. The country recorded 68 confirmed cases in the past week.
Dr. Kibebu Kinfu Berta, a WHO epidemiologist, said South Sudan recorded a decrease in Covid-19 cases in the past few days.
“We are also following what is going on in South Sudan but still we have seen a few cases in the past week and there is no upsurge of cases,” Dr. Kinfu said. “It has reduced in the past few days though there was an increase in the past weeks. Now the number has decreased.”
She added that over 40 countries are affected globally by the Omicron variant of the Covid-19 virus and that they have sent samples to the Uganda Virus Research Centre to monitor other virus types in South Sudan.
“We have sent samples to Uganda Virus Research Centre and we are waiting for the results of the samples. We will continue sending samples to Uganda Virus Research Centre to monitor the variants or virus types in South Sudan,” Dr. Kinfu said.
The WHO said the Delta variant is still the dominant one that causes a lot of mortality.