Juba, 14 September 2021 –South Sudan received its first consignment of 152,950 doses of the Johnson & Johnson ‘Janssen’ COVID-19 vaccines today. These single dose Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccines are the third batch of vaccine shipments to South Sudan through the COVAX Facility.  

The first batch of AstraZeneca vaccines were shipped through the COVAX facility to South Sudan on 25 March 2021 and the second batch of 59,520 AstraZeneca vaccines donated by France arrived on 31 August 2021 and a donation from Sweden is slated for arrival soon.

The COVAX Facility is a global partnership comprised of Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), GAVI, the Vaccine Alliance, UNICEF and WHO, that aims to ensure all countries can equitably access COVID-19 vaccines.

“Thanks to the United States Government, the vaccines will ramp up the ongoing COVID-19 vaccination programme to prevent COVID-19 in individuals 18 years of age and older”, said Minister of Health Hon Elizabeth Achuei. “The Johnson & Johnson vaccine is the second vaccine in South Sudan’s programme, while the double-dose AstraZeneca vaccines have already been administered in the country.”

The arrival of the Johnson and Johnson vaccine means that the country has now received a total of 271,200 COVID-19 vaccine doses that are for providing protection against this global COVID-19 pandemic. So far, 120,000 AstraZeneca vaccines had been provided through COVAX. As of Sunday, 12 September, 76,207 having received their first dose while 17,588 persons have been fully vaccinated with two doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine. Thus, 1.3% of South Sudanese adults have received at least one dose while only 0.30% are fully vaccinated against COVID-19.

“The Johnson and Johnson vaccines that arrived today in South Sudan will offer an important contribution in the roll out of COVID vaccines by the convenience of a one-shot dose, this will help to reach hard to reach areas of South Sudan and further accelerate the journey back to normalcy. Protecting health workers, teachers and other delivering key social services is key to secure the continuation of services for children. We thank the US government and the COVAX facility. This delivery demonstrates the power of partnership,” said Jesper Moller, UNICEF Deputy Representative.

“Along with other public health measures, vaccines are a vital and powerful tool to win the fight against COVID-19. The arrival of the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccines is crucial to increase coverage and prevent COVID-19”, said Dr Fabian Ndenzako, WHO Representative a.i. in South Sudan.

While people are waiting to be vaccinated, everybody must contribute to stop the spread of the disease in South Sudan. This means adhering to the simple, yet very effective public health COVID-19 disease prevention measures such as keeping 2 meters distance in public places, wearing face masks and practicing good hand hygiene.

Note for the editors:

About COVAX

COVAX, the vaccines pillar of the Access to COVID-19 Tools (ACT) Accelerator, is co-led by the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance Gavi) and the World Health Organization (WHO) – working in partnership with UNICEF as key implementing partner, as well as civil society organisations, vaccine manufacturers, the World Bank, and others.

About CEPI

Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) is an innovative partnership between public, private, philanthropic, and civil organisations, launched at Davos in 2017, to develop vaccines to stop future epidemics. CEPI has moved with great urgency and in coordination with WHO in response to the emergence of COVID-19. CEPI has initiated ten partnerships to develop vaccines against the novel coronavirus. The programmes are leveraging rapid response platforms already supported by CEPI as well as new partnerships.

About Gavi

Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance is a public-private partnership that helps vaccinate half the world’s children against some of the world’s deadliest diseases. Since its inception in 2000, Gavi has helped to immunise a whole generation – over 822 million children – and prevented more than 14 million deaths, helping to halve child mortality in 73 developing countries. Gavi also plays a key role in improving global health security by supporting health systems as well as funding global stockpiles for Ebola, cholera, meningitis and yellow fever vaccines.

About WHO

The World Health Organization provides global leadership in public health within the United Nations system. Founded in 1948, WHO works with 194 Member States, across six regions and from more than 150 offices, to promote health, keep the world safe and serve the vulnerable. Our goal for 2019-2023 is to ensure that a billion more people have universal health coverage, to protect a billion more people from health emergencies, and provide a further billion people with better health and wellbeing.
For updates on COVID-19 and public health advice to protect yourself from coronavirus, visit www.who.int and follow WHO on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok,  Pinterest,
Snapchat, YouTube.

About UNICEF

UNICEF works in some of the world’s toughest places, to reach the world’s most disadvantaged children. Across 190 countries and territories, we work for every child, everywhere, to build a better world for everyone. For more information about UNICEF and its work for children, visit www.unicef.org. For more information about COVID-19, visit www.unicef.org/coronavirus.  
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For more information, please contact:
Emmanuel Moju Andrea, Deputy Director, Department of Health Education and Promotion, Ministry of Health, moju.andrea2015 [at] gmail.com (moju[dot]andrea2015[at]gmail[dot]com), Tel: +211 923 016 238
Jemila M. Ebrahim, WHO South Sudan, ebrahimj [at] who.int (ebrahimj[at]who[dot]int), Tel: +211 92 164 7859;
Rabindra Giri, UNICEF South Sudan, rgiri [at] unicef.org (rgiri[at]unicef[dot]org), Tel +211 926 900 009