BISSAU, March 16 (Xinhua) -- Guinea-Bissau announced on Monday it will postpone the start of a national COVID-19 vaccination campaign with the AstraZeneca vaccine until May.
"We have decided, as a safety and precautionary measure to postpone the vaccination campaign until we have the assurance of the safety of the doses of the vaccine to be administered," Magda Robalo, high commissioner for the fight against COVID-19 in Guinea-Bissau, said during a weekly update on the COVID-19 situation in the country.
According to Robalo, Guinea-Bissau should receive 144,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine as part of the COVAX facility led by the World Health Organization.
"It is necessary to analyze certain formalities and to observe the possible side effects of this vaccine before its use," she said, calling on the public to remain calm, as the vaccination campaign "will indeed take place in the country."
The country was hit hard by the second wave of COVID-19, especially in the capital Bissau, she added.
As of March 15, Guinea-Bissau had 3,447 positive coronavirus cases, including 2,755 recoveries and 52 deaths. Enditem
