The undersecretary in the national ministry of health has revealed that logistical challenges have delayed the shipment of Covid-19 AstraZeneca vaccines to Western Bahr-el-Ghazal State. 

Last month, the health ministry undersecretary, Professor Mayen Achiek, disclosed that the ministry was ready to dispatch the first shipment of AstraZeneca vaccines to Wau which would be first given to health workers and people with underlying conditions. 

In an interview with Radio Tamazuj over the weekend, Professor Achiek said logistical challenges were the reason behind the delay but he promised again that the vaccine will reach Wau this week.

“What I can say to you is that since we came back from Wau, I found a lot of things but we are processing because Wau Teaching Hospital is the second largest after Juba Teaching Hospital. We came and we had a very comprehensive meeting here and the team is working and we are also engaged with the team in Wau,” Prof. Achiek said.

He pointed out that the team responsible for the distribution of the vaccine to the states is processing the shipments and securing the money to incentivize the frontline workers in the states.  

“We are concerned with all the places despite limited resources. We are also talking to our health partners including WHO,” Prof. Achiek said. “We have limitations of resources which we are now mobilizing to help our health workers in the field. As we speak, we have requested incentives from our ministry of finance and this is our national duty and this has been a challenge.”

For his part, Vincent Taban, the state minister of health in Western Bahr-el-Ghazal, said they are yet to receive any confirmation but that they are ready to receive the vaccine. 

“The ministry is yet to make an official communication but according to the undersecretary, last time he promised that the vaccines are at Juba level and there are arrangements for the vaccine to reach all the states. Since then we haven’t got any clarification or confirmation as to when exactly the vaccine will arrive in Wau,” Taban said. 

The national Covid-19 incident manager, Dr. Richard Laku, told Radio Tamazuj on Tuesday that the country had come out of the second wave of coronavirus and the ministry of health is planning to roll out the vaccine to the states in the next few days. 

“We are starting to roll out to the states and we are working with partners and NGOs to help in this. UNMISS and WFP have agreed to transport the vaccine to all parts of the country, the ten states, and three administrative areas. We started with Juba and the rest of Central Equatoria State and will roll out to the other states in the next few days,” he said.