Mozambique intends to acquire 9 million and 300 thousand doses of vaccines from Johnson & Johnson, against covid-19 until 2022. Of this amount, 100,800 doses arrived in the country on Friday (10), under the African Vaccine Acquisition Trust initiative (AVAT).

According to the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Health (MISAU), Grilo Lubrino, the vaccines to be administered in a single dose will complement those that have been obtained by the Government under the Covax initiative and thus fulfill the plan of vaccinating 17 million people by next year.

"The 9.3 million doses from Johnson & Johnson will accelerate the implementation of the National Vaccination Plan and ensure the immunization of most of the population in a short period of time. We also hope that in the coming days, under the agreement signed in March through the African Vaccine Procurement Fund, more vaccines will arrive in the country to total the amount purchased," said the Permanent Secretary of MOH.

In the country, vaccination against covid-19 began in March and has now reached 1.6 million people fully immunized.

Mozambique is one of the first African Union member countries to purchase a batch of vaccines from Johnson & Johnson against covid-19, through the AVAT mechanism, which aims to immunize up to one third of the African population.

The purchase of the vaccines from Johnson & Johnson is the result of $115 million in funding from the World Bank.

The World Bank Representative in Mozambique, Emry Osaltin says that the number of people vaccinated so far in Mozambique is not satisfactory, so it is necessary to intensify the vaccination campaign and strengthen the National Health System.

For his part, Senior Bioprotection and Biosafety Officer, Talkmore Maruta, said that Africa CDC is committed to supporting all African Union member states to vaccinate at least 60% of 1.2 billion Africans.

With this acquisition, Mozambique joins the ranks of the AVAT beneficiary countries, at a time when Angola received 165,000 doses in August, the Republic of Botswana and the Kingdom of Lesotho 108,000 doses, Zambia received 129,600 doses, and Namibia is expected to join this list in the coming days.