Algiers (AFP)

Algerian Prime Minister Abdelaziz Djerad promised on Sunday that his government would acquire anti-Covid vaccines in "sufficient" quantities, the day after the launch of the vaccination campaign which will last "all year".

"The quantity of vaccines will be sufficient throughout this year. This operation will not take place over one or two days but it will be spread out over the whole year," Djerad told reporters shortly before. to be vaccinated in a polyclinic in Algiers.

Dalila, a 54-year-old retiree who was among the first to be vaccinated in the capital, says she volunteered because "there are a lot of people who are reluctant".

"They are waiting for the first to be vaccinated to see the side effects," she told AFP.

"I do it because I believe that the vaccine is an act of prevention. Algeria has invested a lot to have this vaccine," added Ahcène Chemache, a journalist for public radio.

Algeria - the most populous country in the Maghreb with 44 million inhabitants - carried out its first vaccinations on Saturday, in Blida (center) which was the local epicenter of the pandemic in March 2020, with a batch of Russian vaccine Sputnik V.

These first doses are intended for the inhabitants of the wilayas (prefectures) most affected by the epidemic, said Sunday the doctor Djamel Fourar, spokesperson for the Committee for monitoring the evolution of the pandemic.

"The vaccine will be distributed from today (Sunday) in the wilayas of the country which are severely affected (...) and having recorded the highest number of deaths and contaminations to date", he said during the official launch of the vaccination campaign in Algiers.

"The vaccine strategy that we have adopted is a modular and flexible strategy, we can improve it over time, so as to reach all the target populations," explained Mr. Fourar.

- 8,000 vaccination centers -

Some 8,000 vaccination centers are mobilized across Algeria.

Algiers, which announced at the end of December that it had ordered 500,000 doses from its Russian ally, was to receive a first batch of the British vaccine AstraZeneca / Oxford on Sunday evening, before also receiving batches from China and India.

However, the authorities do not plan to lift the "containment" measures in force in the country since March 2019, according to another member of the Monitoring Committee, Doctor Bekkat Berkani.

"Sanitary confinement will not be lifted before the vaccination of 70% of the population," he said.

The government decided on Saturday to ease some restrictions by lifting the curfew in ten of the country's 48 prefectures.

But it is maintained in particular in those of Blida, Algiers, Constantine, Mostaganem, Oran, Tlemcen and Sidi Bel Abbès.

The country has recorded more than 107,000 cases, including nearly 2,900 deaths since February 2020.

© 2021 AFP