Luanda - Angola received, this Sunday, a batch of 165,600 doses of the unique Johnson&Johnson vaccine, purchased by the Government through the platform created by the African Union, called Avax.
Avax is a platform that aims to facilitate the purchase of vaccines by Member States, with Afreximbank playing an important role within Avax, in facilitating the purchase.
According to the Secretary of State for Public Health, Franco Mufinda, each vaccine cost $7.5 to the State.
The vaccine acquisition process, he said, will run until September 2022.
Franco Mufinda explained that the vaccine, with an immunity level of over 90 percent, will start being applied this week, particularly in the border provinces of Cunene, Namibe, Cuando Cubango and also Huila.
In his turn, the representative of Afreximbank, Humphrey Nwugo, noted that the bank had provided US$2 billion.
Mr. Nwugo said this was the first of several batches of vaccines that will arrive in the country, on a monthly basis, until September 2022.
He recalled that the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) recently announced a partnership with the African Union Vaccine Procurement Mechanism "Avat" to improve procurement and distribution in the region.
The goal of the partnership is to deliver over 400 million doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine to various nations on the continent.
Angolan health authorities expect to vaccinate 54 percent of the population, a total of 16.8 million individuals over the age of 16.
