Ousseynou Badiane, head of Senegal's vaccination program, opens the door of a newly-built cold room that will be used to store COVID-19 vaccines at Fann Hospital in Dakar, Senegal, January 22, 2021. /CFP
Senegal will launch its COVID-19 vaccination campaign next Tuesday, Minister of Health and Social Action Abdoulaye Diouf Sarr announced Thursday night.
Invited on Senegalese public television, Sarr said the ministry will launch the large-scale vaccination operation following the establishment of a monitoring committee.
Senegalese President Macky Sall welcomed on Wednesday night the first doses of the COVID-19 vaccine acquired from China's pharmaceutical group Sinopharm.
Apart from the 200,000 doses of Sinopharm vaccine, Sall said that his country had started the process of acquiring other vaccines, and would receive 6.798 million doses in the coming weeks for mass vaccination.
The country plans to vaccinate 20 percent of its population, which is about 3.5 million people, in the first phase of mass vaccination.
Senegal has reported 32,099 COVID-19 cases, with 26,363 recoveries and 781 deaths as of Thursday.