A local resident receives a shot of the Chinese vaccine against COVID-19 during the vaccination campaign launching ceremony at Maputo Central Hospital, Maputo, Mozambique on March 8, 2021. /Xinhua
The Ministry of Health (MISAU) of Mozambique on Wednesday began the third phase of the vaccination campaign against COVID-19.
The ministry hopes to vaccinate around 7 million people throughout the country particularly in rural areas during this phase which could last until March 2022, said the Coordinator of the National Vaccination Campaign Against COVID-19 at the ministry Ivan Manhica at a press briefing in Maputo, the capital of Mozambique.
"Throughout this process, with the appearance of new scientific evidence, the World Health Organization (WHO) approved the possibility of vaccinating women during pregnancy and lactation," said Manhica.
According to Manhica, vaccines from Astrazeneca, Verocell and Johnson & Johnson will be administered in the country in the period.
"In rural areas, given the necessary logistics, which include distant vaccination posts, MISAU will strategically administer the single-dose vaccine, from Johnson & Johnson," he said.
Since the beginning of the national vaccination campaign on March 8, Mozambique has already immunized more than 2 million people, which represents 12 percent of the national target to get 17 million people vaccinated by 2022.
The cases of deaths and hospitalizations due to COVID-19 infections have drastically reduced in Mozambique, where in some provinces there are no longer hospitalized patients. The cumulative number of deaths caused by COVID-19 now stays at 1,927, according to the ministry.