Algeria to start Coronavirus vaccinations in January

Algeria will launch COVID-19 vaccinations in January, President Abdelmadjid Tebboune said Sunday, although the North African nation has not yet selected which vaccine it will deploy.

Tebboune, who is recovering from COVID-19 in Germany, where he was hospitalised on October 28, made the announcement on Twitter.

He said he had tasked Prime Minister Abdelaziz Djerad to convene without delay a meeting of the country's specialist COVID-19 science committee with a view to choosing an "adequate vaccine".

In Algeria, people with Covid-19 are given hydroxychloroquine among other treatments, despite a raft of studies showing it is ineffective.

The 75-year-old president promised last week to return to Algeria "as soon as possible."

Algeria has officially recorded more than 100,000 virus cases and 2,666 deaths, health officials said Sunday.