MInister of Health, Elizabeth Achuei, gets vaccinated against Coronavirus on April 6, 2021 | Credit | Eye Radio

The Doctors’ Union is advising South Sudanese to get vaccinated against the coronavirus using the AstraZeneca vaccine.

“From our side based on the scientific information that has been published by the World Health Organization and other health regulatory bodies, the vaccine is safe,” Secretary-General of South Sudan Doctors’ Union, Dr. Bol told Eye Radio in an interview on Thursday.

This advice comes after the country administered the first jab of the AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine this week after an unnecessary delay.

The Minister of Health, Elizabeth Achuei became the first, among others, to be vaccinated at Juba Teaching Hospital.

The health ministry had earlier announced it would start rolling the jabs within the Presidency.

However, no one within the national government seemed interested to be the first beneficiary of the vaccine, with some reportedly claiming the vaccines could cause side effects.

“The hesitance that happened is something that happened at the level of the leadership of the Ministry of Health and the national task force plus other officials of the government. So they are in the position to explain why there was an acute delay in launching the vaccine,” said Dr. Bol.

The first doses of the 132,000 AstraZeneca vaccine arrived in South Sudan on March 25.

They are part of the 2.4 million doses South Sudan requested from COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access, known as COVAX.

Yesterday, South Sudan confirmed 16 new coronavirus cases, raising the cumulative number to 10,340.

Of these, 10,090 have recovered and 114 have died.