Tanzania has received more than one million doses of the Johnson and Johnson coronavirus vaccine.

They are part of the 25 million vaccines that the US is sharing with the continent.

Tanzania is beginning its vaccination campaign four months after the death of President John Magufuli, who was a prominent Covid sceptic.

Just like other countries, priority for the jabs will be given to frontline workers and those at an increased risk of getting the disease.

The single dose vaccine will be offered free of charge in all government hospitals.

The country will also offer the Covid vaccine to those planning to travel abroad – at a cost.

The semi-autonomous Tanzanian islands of Zanzibar began a vaccination campaign about two weeks ago using China’s Sinovac vaccine.

No data has been shared on how many people have so far been vaccinated there. It is also unclear how many doses the authorities received from the Chinese government.

For most of last year, Tanzania did not release any figures on the spread of the virus.

But this has changed under the leadership of President Samia Suluhu Hassan.

The country now says that it’s experiencing a third wave of Covid infections

Eritrea and Burundi are now the only African countries yet to order vaccines through the Covax scheme or the Africa Union’s Vaccine Acquisition Trust.