The Government of Rwanda on Friday, March 5 received a donation of 50,000 AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccines from India.

The programme dubbed ‘vaccine maitri’ (loosely translated as vaccine friendship) aims to distribute domestically produced coronavirus vaccines for free to some of its neighbors and several countries around the world.

The development was announced by the country’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi, days after launching the nationwide vaccination campaign in January.

"The Government of Rwanda is pleased to receive 50,000 doses of Covid-19 vaccines from India this morning.” Minister of Foreign Affairs, Vincent Biruta said in a tweet.

Biruta received the consignment from India’s High Commissioner in Rwanda, Dr Oscar Kerketta, from the Kigali International Airport.

"Government of Rwanda is grateful to the government of India and other partner countries for their valuable contribution to the fight against Covid-19,” Minister Biruta added.

The delivery comes on the same day, Rwanda launched her nationwide vaccination programme, starting with high-risk groups.

Rwanda received its first batch of Covid-19 vaccines under the Covax facility on Wednesday, March 3.

The vaccines came in two batches: 240,000 AstraZeneca vaccine doses that were delivered in the morning and 102,960 Pfizer vaccine doses which were received late on Wednesday.

The two consignments are part of the 1.2 million doses the country ordered from Covax which will be key to the country’s ambition of vaccinating at least 30 per cent of its population by the end of 2021.