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MBABANE – Eswatini is 77.7 per cent away from achieving herd i mmunity in the vaccination against COVID- 19.

The country set its own target at 80 per cent, which is 20 per cent more than the 60 per cent international target.

By yesterday morning, 27 341 adults had been fully vaccinated using the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine which comes in two doses. Some 10 985 adults have so far received only the first dose and are in the process of getting the second one.

The fully vaccinated people make up 4.56 per cent of the adult population of 657 860 people who are eligible for vaccination and only 2.26 per cent of the total population.

It is the African Union’s goal to have its member States cover at least 30 per cent of the population by the end of 2021, which means Eswatini should have vaccinated 27 per cent more people in the next five months.

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The demographic statistics on the population are provided by the world population review.

So far, those who have been fully immunised comprise frontline healthcare workers and some of the elderly population.

On average, the African continent has vaccinated less than 1.6 per cent of its 1.22 billion population.

Eswatini’s vaccination pace is expected to increase in the next couple of weeks following the arrival of 302 400 doses of the Johnson and Johnson vaccine donated by the United States on Tuesday. Next in line are teachers, shop attendents and security services personnel.

During Thursday’s weekly press briefing on the COVID- 19 situation in Africa, World