Algeria To Share COVID vaccine With Tunisia

Algeria says it will share some of the doses of coronavirus vaccine it has ordered with neighbouring Tunisia by the end of the month.

It is not clear how many doses Algeria has ordered, nor how many each country needs to battle the virus effectively.

But we do know where they will be coming from: Algeria has ordered Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine – with 500,000 doses due in the first delivery – as well as another vaccine from China.

It’s not known which of the Chinese-developed coronavirus vaccines they are to use. In recent days there has been concern from experts that one of them – CoronaVac – is only 50.4% effective.

Tunisia’s Foreign Minister Othmane Jerandi said his nation and Algeria were “sister” countries and that Algeria’s gesture to share the doses was a “sign of brotherhood” between them.

Algeria’s President Abdelmadjid Tebboune recently returned to Germany for a final phase of treatment after he caught coronavirus three months ago.

Tunisia, with a population of 12 million, has registered more than 5,000 deaths from coronavirus.

Its government imposed a four-day lockdown on 14 January to control the spread of the virus.

Algeria meanwhile has had 2,822 deaths and around 30,000 active cases, according to data published by Johns Hopkins university.