Senegal leader inoculated with Chinese shot

Senegalese President Macky Sall received his first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine manufactured by China's Sinopharm in Dakar on Thursday.

Addressing the nation after his vaccination, the Senegalese leader said he wanted to show that all people over the age of 60 should be vaccinated, adding he and members of the government were vaccinated to set an example.

He also reassured his people about the reliability of the vaccines, calling on the Senegalese to be vaccinated and to ignore rumors about the vaccines.

Senegalese health authorities on Tuesday launched the national vaccination campaign against COVID-19 with the 200,000 doses of the vaccine manufactured by Sinopharm.

Meanwhile, the Ecuadorian government said on Thursday it had negotiated the purchase of 2 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines with Chinese pharmaceutical company Sinovac, which would allow authorities to start a mass inoculation process in the coming weeks.

With the Sinovac vaccine deal, the government now expects to receive around 20 million doses this year, enough to immunize 60 percent of the population over 18 years of age.

Xinhua - Agencies