Bigirimana Noella 1,*, Nsanzabaganwa Christian 2, Byiringiro Fidele 2, Hitimana Nadia 3, Mutesa Leon 4,5, Nsanzimana Sabin 1
1 Rwanda Biomedical Center, Kigali, Rwanda
2 Rwanda Military Hospital, Kigali, Rwanda
3 Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI), Kigali, Rwanda
4 Centre for Human Genetics, University of Rwanda, Kigali, Rwanda
5 COVID-19 Joint Task Force Committee, Kigali, Rwanda
INTRODUCTION
From late 2019 when the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) emerged, there were concerns about African countries' ability to withstand the
pandemic [1]. As the pandemic was severely affecting Europe and America, overwhelming their healthcare systems. Experts started warning
that Africa's weak healthcare systems would not be able to cope [2].
However, a number of African countries, including Rwanda, managed to effectively control the pandemic compared to many advanced countries
[3,2]. After the development of COVID-19 vaccines, wealthy countries raced to procure enough doses and this left low-income countries unable
to have access to enough vaccines. African countries were able to secure and receive COVID-19 vaccines through COVAX (the COVID-19 global
access initiative, co-led by GAVI, the WHO and CEPI) and others [3].
Among the few countries, Rwanda served as an exemplar in controlling the pandemic and conducting successful COVID-19 vaccine rollout
during the first quarter of 2021 [5].
