Rwanda Biomedical Centre (RBC) launched a two-week vaccination campaign in Kigali that kicked off on Monday 9, ahead of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) set to happen in June 2022. Dr. Tharcisse Mpunga, Minister of State in the Ministry of Health said that the drive was triggered by three main reasons, which included CHOGM among others. “We are expecting to accommodate a big number of people in CHOGM, so it is very important to have very well protected citizens,” he said. He pointed out the other reason being that in different countries, citing South Africa and China, there is a new variant-omicron, hence, it is important to be protected for the country to fight against that variant earlier. “And Rwanda has a target to vaccinate at least 70 percent of the population by June this year with the second dose,” he added. Mpunga also urges the public to keep respecting all existing covid-19 measures though cases have significantly decreased, arguing that we are still fighting the pandemic. This time around, there will be 26 sites in Kigali including all bus parks, and markets among other places as well as mobile clinics to facilitate people to be vaccinated easily, Grace Kabanya, who works in the unit of vaccination at RBC, said during an interview with Rwanda Broadcasting Agency. She further pointed out that there are enough vaccines, and urges the public to be vaccinated. Kabanyana also emphasised the importance of vaccines , citing how they boost immunity and that vaccinated people cannot be weakened by the virus once they are affected, among other benefits. In addition, she said that this campaign targets all people aged 12 and above adding that they will be vaccinated with all three doses. Kabanyana also revealed that in future, there is also a plan to vaccinate kids aged 5 and above. According to the Ministry of Health’s recent data, 69 percent of Rwandans have received at least one dose of the Covid-19 vaccine in the country, and 64 have been double-jabbed, while 33 percent are boosted.
