Guinean President Gets COVID-19 Vaccine, Awaits 2.5m Doses

By Ahmed Rahma

The President of Guinea, Mr Alpha Conde, has received his first dose of COVID-19 vaccine as part of a scheme mainly involving government officials.

The African leader received the jab on Friday and it is the vaccine produced by Russia called the Sputnik V vaccine.

Mr Conde, 82, is one of few African Presidents to have received the coronavirus vaccine.

More of the vaccine is expected in the country before the end of March 2021. Mr Conde was vaccinated to boost the confidence of the citizens in the shot.

Spokesperson of the country’s Health Agency, Ms Sory Keira, disclosed that not less than 2.5 million vaccine doses are expected in the country before the end of the first quarter of this year.

“More than 2.5 million vaccine doses are expected before the end of the first quarter, which would enable us to inoculate a good number of people, certainly those who want it,” she said.

Several other government members who have not so far contracted the virus have also been inoculated over the past two weeks, a spokesman for the national health security agency told AFP.

Guinea has received 60 doses of Sputnik V and authorities intend to inoculate a small number of elderly volunteers first before deciding whether to extend the programme.

Defence Minister Mohamed Diane, a scientist by training, was the first in the country to get a jab of Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine on December 30.

Like many other nations of the world, Guinea has suffered in the hands of COVID-19, which originated from China in late 2019. More than 14,000 persons have contracted the virus in the small African country, with 81 deaths already recorded.