Tunisia vaccinates more than half a million people in a day

More than half a million Tunisians were vaccinated in one day on Sunday during the North African country’s second open-call vaccine drive. The National reported on Monday that the initiative was launched by President Kais Saied days after he seized all executive powers in the country, following his sacking of the prime minister and freezing of parliament for 30 days on July 25.

According to The National, during Sunday’s vaccine drive five percent of the country’s population of 11.7 million was vaccinated. It said the country’s first campaign had flopped during Eid Al Adha last month when thousands of citizens waited in long queues in the heat for just a few hundred available doses.

Xinhua quoted Amanallah Messaadi, a member of the Tunisian scientific committee for the fight against the coronavirus, as saying that the health ministry “is looking forward to vaccinating one million people of the targeted age group (40 and above)”.

According to the Chinese news agency, the health ministry’s goal is to vaccinate 50 percent of the population by the end of October.

Citing a statement from the health ministry, the Middle East Monitor said on Monday that the opening day of intensive vaccination operations in all regions reached 551,000 vaccinations in 335 centres, bringing the number of those who received the jab to 3.8 million. Some 2.5 million people have received their first dose while 1.2 million have now had both.

In its latest update, the health ministry said Tunisia had recorded 613,628 cases of Covid-19 since the outbreak of the pandemic. Of these, 546,614 people have subsequently recovered while 21,089 have succumbed to related complications.

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