The Minister for Health Dr. Daniel Ngamije has said that at least 97 per cent of the Covid vaccines that were received in the country have been administered as first shot, to high-risk groups.

This comes nearly three weeks after the government kicked off the national vaccination drive upon reception of the first batch of the vaccines distributed under the Covax facility.

Ngamije was appearing on the national broadcaster on Sunday, March 21 to among others highlight the country’s progress to control the spread of the pandemic.

He pointed out that much as the country had ‘almost’ used up the first consignment of the vaccines received in March, the many among the high-risk population have at least received the first shot.

"The vaccination exercise is going on well. We received the first batch of about 344,000 shots and (over 330,) of the priority groups have so far received their first shot,” Ngamije said.

He said that the remaining ‘few’ jabs will be used in the next coming days, estimating that by Thursday, March 25 all the available shots will have been used up.

This is a big step in the country’s battle against the virus, he noted, adding that plans are in advanced stages to administer the second shot for those who received the first one, and at the same time continue to expand the exercise to other groups.

Commenting on the timeframe for the second vaccination exercise, Minister Ngamije revealed that health officials already have in their database all recipients of the first shot, adding that they will be alerted whenever their second shot is due.

"There is a plan to distribute the second shots as soon as they are available. We have their contacts and all the information and they will be informed.”

He added that the Ministry of Health plans to vaccinate AstraZeneca recipients after 12 weeks from the first shot whereas Pfizer recipients will only wait for 28 days.

"They will all be informed on time and none of them will be left behind. We are fortunate to have all their contact details and this will make it easier,” Ngamije reiterated.

The development was announced on the same day Rwanda confirmed 12 cases of new variants strain of Covid-19.

Ngamije disclosed that all the cases were linked to international travel into the country.

Among the 12 cases, he pointed out, 2 patients were detected with the UK variant, while the rest were found with the highly contagious South African variant of the coronavirus.

So far, 20,828 total cases have been recorded in Rwanda and 290 people have lost their lives to the virus since the outbreak in March.