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Burundi's Minister of Health Dr Thaddee Ndikumana, right, and China's ambassador to Burundi Zhao Jiangping, left, be a ceremonial to people the accomplishment of the archetypal COVID-19 vaccines to the country, successful Bujumbura, Burundi, Thursday, Oct. 14, 2021. The accomplishment of the shipment of Sinopharm vaccine from China marked the extremity of the country's presumption arsenic 1 of the past fewer successful the satellite to person adopted coronavirus vaccines. (AP Photo/Berthier Mugiraneza)

NAIROBI – One of the world’s past 3 countries to administer COVID-19 vaccines started giving retired doses connected Monday arsenic the East African federation of Burundi launched its nationalist campaign.

The vaccinations started successful the commercialized capital, Bujumbura, though wellness workers told The Associated Press that hardly much than a twelve radical had received doses by mid-afternoon. Recipients included the ministers of wellness and security.

Only North Korea and the Horn of Africa federation of Eritrea person not administered immoderate COVID-19 vaccines, according to the World Health Organization.

Burundi’s erstwhile authorities nether the precocious President Pierre Nkurunziza had been criticized for taking the pandemic lightly.

The vaccination run began aft Burundi received a half-million doses of the Sinopharm vaccine.

Targeted groups for the doses are wellness workers, the aged and radical with incurable diseases, Health Minister Thaddee Ndikumana said past week.

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But hesitation remains among immoderate officials. On Sunday, Prime Minister Alain Guillaume Bunyoni asserted, without evidence, that the authorities has the work to archer citizens that “the vaccine has a batch of consequences not adjacent known by the specialists who created the vaccine.”

Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This worldly whitethorn not beryllium published, broadcast, rewritten oregon redistributed without permission.