Hundreds of Rwandans have showed up at centres countrywide ready to get vaccinated against Covid-19.

The process involves filling out a consent form, taking the vaccine jab and waiting for 15 minutes before leaving the vaccination site.

Vaccinated individuals sign a consent form, confirm that they are above 16 years old and understand that the vaccine has been authorised for emergency use by Rwanda Food and Drug Authority to prevent coronavirus.

“I understand that it is not possible to predict all possible side effects or complications associated with the vaccine…” the consent forms available in both English and Kinyarwanda read in part.

Underlying conditions

After the jab, beneficiaries are required to wait 15 minutes to rule out any adverse reaction or alternatively call a tollfree 144 over any issue.

Shemsa Habimana, a 49-year-old teacher who also suffers from diabetes received her Covid-19 first dose of the Pfizer vaccine on March 6. Last year, she contracted coronavirus and was seriously ill for three weeks.

When she heard she was shortlisted to get the vaccine, she was relieved. “Teaching during Covid-19 is risky both to teachers and students because if I had Covid-19 and spent a day in contact with 40 students in class, they are likely to transmit it to their families too.

Besides, I would never wish to go through such cruel sickness again,” Ms Habimana said.

Meeting target

Mrs Habimana is among hundreds of thousands of Rwandans who received their Covid-19 vaccine during the last three days. After the mandatory 15-minute-wait, Habimana left the vaccination site for she hadn’t experienced any side effects and was “looking forward to receiving the second dose”.

As of March 9, at least 208,677 Rwandans had received their first doses. The beneficiaries include frontline workers, health care workers, teachers, people above 65 years and people living with underlying medical conditions.

Lists of beneficiaries are prepared by local authorities and submitted to the Ministry of Health.

The vaccination exercise was carried out at different health centers in districts and other designated areas. A quarter of Rwanda’s 98,000 teachers will be vaccinated.

The target is 171,480 people in the first official Covid-19 rollout. “There is now hope that our lives might return to normal. It’s crucial everybody collaborate because we have seen what the pandemic is capable of,” Manirafasha Athanase, 28, a physics teacher at École Francophone Antoine de Saint-Exupéry in Kigali and who has not contracted coronavirus said, referring to people who might be hesitant to take the vaccine.

Covax Initiative

Among the vaccinated was ‘Intwaza’, the elderly whose families were wiped out during the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi. They are accommodated in homes built by the government in different parts of the country.

Community health workers, and members of Rwanda’s Covid-19 Command Post in charge of coordinating and implementing the Covid-19 response were among the vaccinated groups.

Last week, Rwanda received 392,960 doses of AstraZeneca and Pfizer vaccine doses acquired from Covax Initiative, along with other African countries.

Some 50,000 doses were donated to Rwanda by India. According to the Minister, by the end of 2022, 60 per cent of Rwandans will have been vaccinated.