Tunisia, which has been facing a serious health crisis for several months, conducted an intense vaccination campaign against Covid-19 on Sunday during an “open house” day, after having obtained more than six million doses from from Arab and Western countries.
551,008 people over 40, hosted in 335 centers, were vaccinated on this occasion, an initiative of President Kaïs Saïed, announced the Ministry of Health. The crowd was high in the middle of the day. At 1 pm, they were thus 302,751 to have received a dose of vaccine, according to the monitoring unit of the Ministry of Health.
Political and health crisis
President Saïed granted himself full powers on July 25 after a frenzy exacerbated by a deadly epidemic peak, which angered Tunisians against the “incompetence” of the former government and of an Assembly monopolized by its internal struggles. Since then, he has created a crisis unit to manage the health crisis, supervised by a high-ranking soldier.
“In fifteen days, more than six million doses were provided and, in the coming days, more than two million doses are expected then another four million additional”, declared Thursday Kaïs Saïed, in a video diffused by the presidency. The head of state urged his compatriots to be massively vaccinated. “Don’t hesitate a moment,” he said.
The race against the Delta variant
Late in its vaccination campaign, Tunisia has been hit hard by the Delta variant: since March, the number of deaths from the coronavirus has more than doubled to more than 20,000. Officially, this country of 11 million inhabitants now has one of the worst death rates in the world linked to the pandemic. With the millions of doses of vaccine that have poured in following donations in recent weeks, Tunisia officially hopes to vaccinate around 50% of its population by mid-October.
A first “open house” day organized at the last minute at the end of July ended in a disorderly rush on vaccines. It had cost the then Minister of Health his post, highlighting the government’s lack of strategy in the face of Covid-19. About two million people have received a first dose of the vaccine since the campaign began in March.