The Johnson & Johnson jabs arrived at Juba International Airport on Tuesday, September 14, 2021. The 150,000 plus doses were donated by the US government | Credit | Lasuba Memo/Eye Radio

South Sudan will start rolling out the Johnson and Johnson COVID-19 vaccine early next month.

This is according to Dr. Sacha Bootsma, the W.H.O COVID-19 incident manager in the country.

The South Sudan government received 152,950 doses of the single-shot Johnson and Johnson vaccine last week.

The vaccine is a donation by the United States government via the COVAX facility.

Dr. Boostma says the delay to roll out the vaccine is to enable the health care workers to be trained on how to administer the vaccine.

“All the health care workers are currently busy with the vaccination of the AstraZeneca, so we do not expect the Johnson and Johnson to be available until early October,” Dr. Boostma said during the weekly joint press briefing on COVID19 by the ministry of health and the WHO in Juba.

“We start with sensitization or refresher training of the healthcare workers. We want to make sure that all the guidelines and training material are properly updated with this particular vaccine.”