Rwanda has achieved its target of administering two doses of the Covid-19 vaccine to 30 percent of the population before the end of 2021.

According to statistics from the Ministry of Health on Tuesday, December 7, a total of 3,880,262 people have so far been double-jabbed, while 6,388,237 have received one dose.

"Today Rwanda achieves its Covid-19 vaccination target of covering 30% of the total population with 2 doses by end of 2021,” Dr. Daniel Ngamije, the Minister of Health wrote on Twitter.

He added: "The objective is 70% by December 2022 (latest!). This milestone is highly attributed to leadership, partnership, coordination and community engagement!” 

Rwanda started its vaccination campaign in March, after receiving the first shipment of vaccines through the COVAX Facility.

The first phases of the campaign focused on high risk groups including frontline workers, elderly people above 65, immunocompromised individuals, and those who had comorbidities like cancer, diabetes, HIV and other serious diseases.

In August, as vaccines became more available, the government announced that the vaccination campaign had been extended to reach out to all adults, starting from residents of Kigali.

Here, officials were hoping to have 90 percent of all adult residents of the city vaccinated, a target which was achieved.

Besides deploying medics at health centers, the Health Ministry also sent out mobile teams who went door-to-door in districts of Kigali, to administer the vaccine to people with mobility challenges including the elderly, people with disabilities, as well as pregnant women and nursing mothers.

Currently, efforts to inoculate children of 12 years and above are ongoing in the country.

Meanwhile, since late last month, the Health Ministry announced that it is gradually rolling out the administration of booster shots to elderly citizens aged 50 and above.

The roll out will also be extended to people aged between 30 and 49 living with non-communicable diseases (NCDs) or immunocompromising conditions as well as frontline workers.

The roll-out, according to the ministry’s statement, began in Kigali, and is expected to be followed by other districts.