Mali plans to start vaccination against Covid-19 in April, the cabinet said on Thursday.
Mali will purchase 8,444 million doses, for a population of around 20 million, "with the financial contribution of the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization and the World Bank," the cabinet said in a statement. published on social networks.
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The World Health Organization and the Alliance for Vaccines (Gavi) have set up the Covax mechanism to distribute doses to underprivileged countries.
WHO hopes to send the first vaccines in late January or February.
The cost of the vaccines will be 31.26 billion CFA francs (47.65 million euros), the cabinet said.
"The first doses of vaccine will be delivered at the end of March 2021 and the start of vaccination is scheduled for April,"
he said.
Mali has declared more than 7,900 cases of contamination and 320 deaths since March 2020. The Covid-19 has added to the evils of a poor country caught for years in a security turmoil coupled with a deep economic and political crisis.
Mali is now ruled by military-dominated transitional authorities since a coup in August 2020.
