Somalia’s government on Monday received 300,000 doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine from the international COVAX vaccine initiative. Inoculations are starting as early as today of Tuesday while the president of the Federal Government of Somalia H.E. Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo became the first taker of the vaccine.

This is the first batch out of 1.2 million doses Somalia will receive to vaccinate 600,000 frontline workers and members of other vulnerable groups, said the World Health Organization. The WHO facilitates COVAX, designed to obtain and equitably distribute COVID-19 vaccines globally.  

“The first consignment of vaccines targets, as recommended by the COVID-19 National Task Force, the country’s frontline workers, elderly and people with chronic health conditions and it aims to reduce deaths and diseases caused by COVID-19,” the Somali government and the United Nations office in Somalia said in a joint statement Monday.

SOMESHA also welcomes the efforts and appreciate it.