Residents of Kigali, on Monday, August 23 turned up in big numbers for Covid-19 vaccination, as the government launched the third phase of the campaign, now targeting all people aged 18 years and above.

The new campaign targets to have 90 percent of all adult residents of the city vaccinated in the next two weeks.

Government designated more than 35 sites in the three districts of the city, where people should go for the jab, and a number of these experienced big numbers on the first day.

At Petit Stade in Remera, for instance, which is one of the main sites, there were long queues by the time our reporters visited the place in mid-morning hours.

In an interview, Pudence Rubingisa, the City Mayor said he was happy with the turn-up, as he urged city residents to take advantage and get vaccinated.

"We plan to vaccinate up to 300,000 people in this programme, and we are continuing to sensitize them to come for vaccination. The turn-up was good on the first day, as you can see; the youth have responded well to the campaign,” he said.

"The opportunity we have as a country to have vaccines available is something that we should take seriously so that we can reduce the spread and effect of the virus,” he added.

He highlighted that as more people get vaccinated, the possibility of opening up the city for more services increases,

"A large number of people in Kigali live by the earnings they make on a daily basis, and that is why the previous lockdowns really hurt us. We hope that if the vaccination campaign goes well, it will give us opportunity to try to go back to our normal life, and we hope that our economy will rise again,” he said, as he urged, however, that the vaccine is not the cure, and therefore, people should continue to observe preventive measures like washing hands frequently, keeping social distance and wearing facemasks.

Emmanuel Nibishaka, the Deputy Chief Executive Officer of the Rwanda Governance Board, who is managing Kimihurura Covid-19 Vaccination Site also noted that the turn-up was good on the first day.

"The target we have for the day is to vaccinate 380 people, but we will exceed this, because many people are turning up,” he said.

Obed Ndikumana, 21, a computer technician in Kigali, who is one of the young people that benefited from the campaign on its first day was appreciative.

"Before, I thought the vaccination campaign would take longer to reach the young people, but it has not. I think it is important to be vaccinated so that we get increased immunity, and the city can open up more for services,” he said.

Ines Mukarukundo, 23, another beneficiary of the programme said:

"I don’t take Covid-19 as a simple disease, because there are some people that have lost their lives due to it. For me to get the opportunity to be vaccinated is something valuable,” she said.

Kigali, which generates close to 50% of Rwanda's national GDP, has been hit particularly hard by the pandemic, and has gone into lockdown three times since March last year when the first case of the virus was reported in the country.

So far, more than a million people have received at least one dose of Covid-19 vaccine in the country, and of these, about 500,000 have been double-jabbed, according to figures from the Ministry of Health (MoH).