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| - Senegal is due to receive 200,000 doses of the Chinese-made coronavirus vaccine Sinopharm on Wednesday, the health ministry said. The West African state's official infection rate is far below that of Europe, having recorded nearly 32,000 cases since March, of which 769 have been fatal. But the nation of 16 million people is nonetheless battling a second wave of Covid-19, which forced the government to impose new restrictions last month, which include a nightly curfew in the capital Dakar. The health ministry shared photos of the consignment of vaccines being loaded onto a plane on Wednesday, which is due to arrive the same day. Sinopharm is 79-percent effective against COVID-19 , according to its developers, and is being deployed in other African countries, including the Seychelles, Zimbabwe, Egypt and Equatorial Guinea. President Macky Sall last week promised that Senegal's inoculation campaign would be launched this month. Health workers will be vaccinated first, alongside people over the age of 60 with co-existing diseases. A government-aligned newspaper, Le Soleil, reported that the government paid the equivalent of 3.3 million euros ($3.9 million) for the Sinopharm batch. AFP was unable to independently confirm the information. Senegal is also set to receive Oxford/AstraZeneca jabs through its participation in COVAX, a global scheme to distribute coronavirus vaccines to poor countries. mrb/siu/eml/ri
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