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| - Mauritania began administering Covid-19 jabs on Friday, immunising medical staff first as part of a nationwide campaign in the West African state. Mohamed Bebbaha, the head of the reanimation department in a Covid-19 ward in the capital Nouakchott's central hospital, received the first dose. Other doctors and medical staff who are in contact with coronavirus patients followed, according to an AFP journalist. Mauritania, a vast but sparsely populated desert country, has officially declared 17,712 Covid-19 infections since the beginning of the pandemic, with 447 deaths. The launch of the campaign follows the arrival on Wednesday of 50,000 doses of the Chinese-made coronavirus vaccine Sinopharm in the nation of 4.5 million people. Mauritania is also set to receive about 800,000 doses of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine, through its participation in Covax, a global scheme to distribute coronavirus vaccines to poor countries. President Mohamed Ould Cheikh El Ghazouani and other government members did not receive a jab on Friday. Health Minister Mohamed Nedhirou Ould Hamed had said previously that health workers will be vaccinated first, followed by the elderly and the poor. hos-lal/eml/pma
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