Thu | Mar 28, 2024

Tanzania gets one million J&J vaccines from US

Published:Saturday | July 24, 2021 | 11:51 AM
Tanzania had been among the few countries in Africa yet to receive vaccines or start vaccinating its population, mainly because its former leader had claimed prayer had defeated COVID-19 in the country.

DAR ES SALAAM, Tanzania — Tanzania has received its first batch of one million Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccines donated by the United States government.

Tanzania had been among the few countries in Africa yet to receive vaccines or start vaccinating its population, mainly because its former leader had claimed prayer had defeated COVID-19 in the country.

The vaccines were received by the foreign affairs minister and the US ambassador at the airport in Dar es Salaam.

Former Tanzanian President John Magufuli, who died in March, had refused to accept vaccines after he claimed three days of prayer had healed the country of the virus in June 2020.

Magufuli's deputy, Samai Suluhu Hassan, took over as president in line with the country's constitution and became the first female president in Tanzania.

Hassan has reversed Tanzania's practice of denying COVID-19′s spread in the East African country.

Follow The Gleaner on Twitter and Instagram @JamaicaGleaner and on Facebook @GleanerJamaica. Send us a message on WhatsApp at 1-876-499-0169 or email us at onlinefeedback@gleanerjm.com or editors@gleanerjm.com.