President Kagame First East African Leader to Take Covid-19 Vaccination

Paul Kagame, Rwanda’s President, became the first leader in East Africa to receive the Covid-19 vaccine on Thursday. Pictured on the Rwandan Presidency’s official Twitter account, Kagame and his wife Jeanette were seen receiving the jab. According to the Twitter account, 200,000 people had received the vaccine though not specified which vaccine they received.

Rwanda has detected almost 20,000 cases and carried out more than a million tests. It has also reported 271 deaths since the outbreak of the virus. In February, intending to target high-risk groups such as healthcare workers and after acquiring around 1,000 doses of the Moderna jab, Rwanda became the first country in East Africa to begin vaccinating against Covid-19.

Rwanda has received 240,000 doses of the Astra Zeneca/Oxford medicine and 100,000 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech drug. It, therefore, plans to vaccinate 30% of its population this year and 60% by the end of the year.

Other East African countries like Kenya and Uganda have also begun vaccinating. Ethiopia is set to start vaccination Tomorrow.

By Lilian Waeni