COVID-19 vaccination in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

See also: COVID-19 pandemic in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

COVID-19 vaccination in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
CauseCOVID-19 pandemic

COVID-19 vaccination in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is an ongoing immunisation campaign against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the virus that causes coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), in response to the ongoing pandemic in the country.

The Democratic Republic of Congo started its COVID-19 vaccination campaign on 19 April 2021 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic in the country.[1] COVID-19 vaccination in Democratic Republic of Congo was made possible using COVAX, an international scheme to make safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines worldwide.[2] More than 90% of the doses received are the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine manufactured in India.[2] Congo received 1.7 million doses via COVAX. However, DRC administered only around 1000 doses by the end of April, and 1.3 million COVAX doses were returned for redistribution to other African countries before they expire in the end of June.[1][3] The main reasons for low vaccination rate in Congo are poor healthcare infrastructure, political instability and spread of misinformation.[2][4]

Background

History

Timeline

May 2021

By the end of the month 23,733 vaccine doses had been administered.

June 2021

By the end of the month 59,733 vaccine doses had been administered.

July 2021

By the end of the month 86,170 vaccine doses had been administered.

August 2021

By the end of the month 94,890 vaccine doses had been administered.

September 2021

By the end of the month 137,758 vaccine doses had been administered.

October 2021

By the end of the month 148,684 vaccine doses had been administered. Less than 0.2% of the targeted population had been fully vaccinated by the end of the month.

November 2021

By the end of the month 186,749 vaccine doses had been administered. Less than 0.3% of the targeted population had been fully vaccinated by the end of the month.

December 2021

By the end of the month 333,859 vaccine doses had been administered. Less than 0.4% of the targeted population had been fully vaccinated by the end of the month.

January 2022

By the end of the month 468,253 vaccine doses had been administered. Less than 1% of the targeted population had been fully vaccinated by the end of the month.

February 2022

By the end of the month 850,731 vaccine doses had been administered and 442,965 persons had been fully vaccinated.

March 2022

By the end of the month 881,240 vaccine doses had been administered and 515,732 persons had been fully vaccinated.

Progress

Cumulative vaccinations in the Democratic Republic of the Congo[5]

References

  1. ^ a b Jerving, Sara (29 April 2021). "DRC to return 1.3M COVAX vaccine doses before expiry". Devex. Archived from the original on 9 July 2021. Retrieved 4 July 2021.
  2. ^ a b c "Covid: DR Congo in race against time to vaccinate people". BBC News. 10 May 2021. Archived from the original on 5 July 2021. Retrieved 4 July 2021.
  3. ^ "Congo starts re-deployment of expiring COVID-19 vaccines to other African countries". Reuters. 29 April 2021. Archived from the original on 14 June 2021. Retrieved 4 July 2021.
  4. ^ "DR Congo: COVID-19 vaccine hesitation amid surging cases in third wave". Africanews. 2 July 2021. Archived from the original on 3 July 2021. Retrieved 4 July 2021.
  5. ^ "owid/covid-19-data". GitHub. Archived from the original on 22 June 2021. Retrieved 7 March 2021.