COVID-19: Burundi accepts vaccines but does not recommend them

Authorities in Burundi have agreed to receive Covid-19 vaccines, but say they won’t urge people to get vaccinated. The announcement has been done by Dr Thaddée Ndikumana, the health minister.

The minister said the vaccines were proposed by the World Bank and they decide “to welcome them” but “the government will not mobilise people to be vaccinated, and only those who need them could go seek the jab”.

Burundian authorities have been sceptical about the vaccines and previously said they would monitor how effective they are elsewhere before agreeing to let them in.

The minister on Thursday evening confirmed reports of Covid cases rise in the northern provinces, bordering Rwanda and in the economic capital Bujumbura.

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The country has so far recorded nearly 6,000 Covid cases including eight deaths since the pandemic began in country in March 2020.