COVID-19: Rwanda is first African country to use Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine

Rwanda began its COVID-19 vaccine distribution on Friday, becoming the first African country to administer the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine. 

The East African country, on Wednesday, received about 103,000 doses of the vaccine at Kigali, its capital city, through the United Nations-led COVAX initiative.

Many countries, including Nigeria, opted for the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine in place of Pfizer’s over storage convenience.

While the former can be stored at regular fridge temperature, the latter is required to be stored at an extremely cold temperature of -70 degrees celsius.

Pfizer said the first shipment of its vaccine to Africa represents “an important milestone for the region, for Rwanda, and for the global health partners working tirelessly to fight this pandemic”.

“Our goal is to make vaccines accessible worldwide and today’s delivery to Rwanda is a great step forward,” Janine Small, Pfizer global president for emerging markets, said.

As in most nations, health workers and the elderly are first in line as President Paul Kagame’s government plans to vaccinate up to 30 percent of its 12 million population by the end of the year, and 60 percent by the end of 2022.

Rwanda has, so far, received 102,960 and 240,000 doses of the Pfizer and AstraZeneca vaccines, respectively.

Meanwhile, as of March 5, the country has recorded over 19,000 COVID-19 cases and 266 deaths.

In a related development, Ghana was the first African country to receive the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine from COVAX.