ADDIS ABABA, March 7 (Xinhua) -- Ethiopia on Sunday received its first 2.2 million COVID-19 vaccines from COVAX, crucial in the east African country's fight to stop the spread of the pandemic.
The 2.2 million COVID-19 vaccines were received at a ceremony attended by senior Ethiopian government officials as well as representatives of foreign diplomatic missions and United Nations missions based in Ethiopia.
Speaking at the COVID-19 vaccines arrival ceremony, Lia Tadesse, Ethiopia's Minister of Health, said the east African country is receiving the COVID-19 vaccines after months of anticipation.
"After a long wait of uncertainties, hope has become a reality in this morning of March 7, when Ethiopia has received its first batch of COVID-19 vaccine which is the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine from the Serum Institute of India," said Tadesse.
"COVAX partners have begun to roll out the largest global vaccination campaign the world has ever seen. This is an uNPRecedented global partnership we believe will not only change the course of the pandemic but also change the way we respond to future pandemics, as the more people get vaccinated, the faster we're going to beat this pandemic," she said, adding that the arrival of the vaccines is literally a life saver.
"So far as we all know, almost 167,000 COVID-19 cases have been reported from Ethiopia and we have lost more than 2,400 of our brothers and sisters from the disease and we know that the real numbers could be much higher," Tadesse said.
Ethiopia has recorded 165,029 COVID-19 cases and 2,420 COVID-19 related deaths as of Sunday morning.
The Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) Director, John Nkengasong, for his part, said the provision of COVID-9 vaccines to African countries makes both health and equity sense.
"We should never allow scarcity of vaccines or diagnostics be the enemy of equity. We have to adhere to that principle over global equity and access to vaccines and we're here truly believing that this is the start of the end of the pandemic as vaccines plus vaccinations equals lives saved," said the Africa CDC Director.
The Africa CDC, the specialized healthcare agency of the 55-member African Union (AU), has recorded 3,955,148 COVID-19 cases and 105,490 COVID-19 related deaths as of Sunday morning.