Algeria launched a nationwide vaccination campaign on Saturday, rolling out the programme at a medical centre in Blida a day after receiving the first shipment of Russia’s Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine.
The vaccine will be given first to healthcare workers, the elderly and people with chronic diseases, and will be gradually expanded to include remaining citizens, according to state media.
“It’s a happy day,” said 75-year-old Ben Othman, receiving the vaccine. “We’ve been suffering for a year in Blida.”
Aissa El Bay, one of the doctors administering the vaccine, said that some were hesitant at first, but that the turnout was good.
“Today is the first day and there are a lot of people here,” said El Bay.
Around 45 km south-west of the capital Algiers, Blida was the centre of the worst outbreak in the country when the pandemic first hit in March last year.
Algeria received 50 000 doses of the Russian vaccine on Friday, said the head of the Algerian Scientific Committee, Djamel Fourar, adding that more shipments are expected in the coming days.
The Sputnik vaccine, named after the Soviet-era satellite that triggered the space race, is administered in two shots, each of which will cost buyers less than $10, according to the official Sputnik V Twitter account.
As of Friday, Algeria has recorded 106 887 confirmed coronavirus cases and 2 884 deaths.
