Those monovalent shots, composed of inactivated SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus antigens to generate the body’s immune response, are the second vaccines purchased by the country, but the first ones outside the Covax initiative.
To guarantee equitable access to medications to fight the pandemic, public and private entities created the Covid-19 Vaccine Global Access Fund (Covax), directed by the World Health Organization.
A year after the first contagion was reported on March 13, the Ethiopian Ministry of Health began the immunization program to fight the disease, by using AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine from the United Kingdom.
Under the scheme established by the Fund, Ethiopia received 2.2 million doses of that vaccine on March 7 that, in the first phase of the process, is administrated to doctors, paramedics, public officials and other prioritized population groups.
With 60 laboratories dedicated to detect the respiratory infection, Ethiopia has made up to this Tuesday 2,340,575 PCR tests in real time, 202,545 of which tested positive, the fourth highest figure among African states.
In addition to the number of contagions, the country has so far reported 2,825 deaths, 155,190 recovered patients and 44,530 active cases, 795 of them are admitted to intensive care units.
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