The East African country has been racing to catch up with
COVID programmes across the continent since the death of its COVID-sceptic and
vaccine-sceptic president John Magufuli in March.
The government has signalled it is now taking the disease
seriously. But it remains one of only four African nations that have not
started a national vaccination drive, according to the Africa Centres for
Disease Control and Prevention.
"We have received information that Tanzania is now
formally working to join the COVAX facility," the WHO's regional director
for Africa Matshidiso Moeti told a news conference.
The first vaccines under the scheme could arrive in a couple
of weeks, Richard Mihigo from the WHO's Immunization and Vaccines Development
Programme in Africa told the same briefing.
The semi-autonomous archipelago of Zanzibar had also secured
10,000 doses of Russia's Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine which arrived on June
14, Mihigo later told Reuters.
"The vaccines are intended for pilgrims, frontline
workers, hotel attendants and people with co-morbidities," he said.
Tanzanian authorities were not immediately reachable for
comment.
Mihigo said a meeting was planned next week between the
government, the WHO, the U.N. children's agency UNICEF and other health
partners to develop the national COVID-19 vaccine deployment plan.
Magufuli, when he was in office, played down the threat of
COVID-19 and dismissed vaccines as part of a Western conspiracy. The country of
58 million people stopped reporting COVID-19 cases and deaths in May 2020.
The WHO's Moeti urged Tanzania to start sending data again.
"We are strongly encouraging the country, now that it's
going to address the situation through vaccination, to share data with us so
that we can play the most effective role in helping - for example in targeting,
in the planning, where to start, where to focus, that can only be done on the
basis of evidence," Moeti said
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