Covid-19: vaccination has started in Madagascar

Audio 01:13

The Malagasy Minister of Health, Jean-Louis Rakotovao, receives the first injection of the Covid vaccine on May 10 in Antananarivo.

© Laure Verneau / RFI

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4 min

This first phase of vaccination is targeted, it only concerns the oldest people and health workers, on the front line against the virus.

Report to the HJRA, the largest hospital in the capital Antananarivo, where the Minister of Public Health was vaccinated, before giving way to health workers.

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With our correspondent in Antananarivo,

Laure Verneau

It was bare arm, under the crackling of cameras and in a cramped Unicef ​​tent, that Doctor Jean-Louis Rakotovao, Minister of Public Health, was vaccinated first.

An act all the more symbolic as the government joined the Covax facility on March 31 only, after months of lobbying behind the scenes.

So far, the government had preferred to highlight the CVO, a traditional remedy for

artemisia

, launched by Andry Rajoelina in April 2020.

Jean-Louis Rakotovao spoke after his vaccination: “

It is not an obligation

[vaccination, Editor's note].

It's a choice.

It is a complement to what we already have.

I take CVO every day, and it helps with the vaccine.

 "

The minister

is still keen to defend the CVO

, while the second wave is in full swing.

But he will not advise the President of the Republic, absent from this first day of the campaign, to be vaccinated.

" 

It is not a compulsory act, so it will be necessary to ask the question to him.

 Andry Rajoelina had indeed said in a speech that he did not want to vaccinate himself and his family.

Away from the spotlight, Dr. Voahirana Raniarisoa, 60, is waiting his turn for the injection.

For her who suffers from high blood pressure, finally getting vaccinated is a relief. 

“

Of course there can be side effects, like any vaccine

,” she adds, “

but you just have to be vigilant.

I see it more as an opportunity.

I urge the Malagasy to do the same.

 "

Vaccination is free and is done by registration.

Voahirana Raniarisoa, for example, has registered at the basic health center (CSB) in her neighborhood.

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  • Madagascar

  • Coronavirus

  • Andry Rajoelina

  • Vaccines