This Friday morning March 5 2021, Rwanda received a donation of 50,000 COVID-19 vaccine doses from the Government of India. The shipment was received by Dr. Vincent Biruta, the Minister of Foreign Affairs.
Minister Biruta thanked Oscar Kerketta, India’s High Commissioner to Rwanda who handed over the vaccines on behalf of his government at Kigali International Airport.
“Pleased to receive 50,000 doses of Covid-19 vaccines from India this morning. Govt of Rwanda is grateful to the Govt of India and other partner countries for their valuable contribution to the fight against #COVID-19.” Minister Vincent Biruta said on twitter.
The donation of COVID-19 vaccines to Rwanda comes two days after the country received its first batch of COVID-19 vaccines through the COVAX initiative which included 240,000 doses of the AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine and 102,960 doses of the Pfizer vaccine.
The 50,000 doses of vaccines delivered this Friday were Made in India as well as the first batch delivered through COVAX initiative.
The vaccines were dispatched on Thursday from Rwanda Biomedical Center warehouse to District Hospitals and vaccination starts this Friday in hospitals and health centres. The first vaccine recipients are said to include health personnel, those above 65 years old or with underlying health conditions, and other frontline workers.
