Juba,

South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir on Tuesday afternoon took his first AstraZeneca jab.

There have been debates in the past few weeks over the safety of the vaccine.

Addressing members of the press in Juba on Tuesday, Presidential Affairs Minister Barnaba Marial Benjamin said the president took the vaccine so as to lead by example.

“We need to take this injection which has been taken by millions of people across the world.

“We are not the first people to have it. Yes, there are some risks in it but there are more risks when you are not injected,” he said.

Mr Marial urged South Sudanese to get vaccinated against Covid-19.   

In late March, South Sudan received 132,000 doses of the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine.

This was the first of several vaccine shipments scheduled to arrive in the coming months, under the Covax facility.

However, there has been reluctance in the uptake of the jab prompting leaders to get the vaccine to encourage citizens to also get inoculated.