Algeria starts COVID-19 vaccination drive with Russian shots

ALGIERS, Algeria (AP) — Algeria has launched its coronavirus vaccination campaign in the city where the country’s first COVID-19 case was confirmed in March. The North African nation is using Russia’s Sputnik-V vaccine, and a 65-year-old retiree received the first shot Saturday at a hospital in Blida. Health authorities were on hand for the event. Vaccines will get administered in all regions of the country starting Sunday with health care workers, elderly adults and other vulnerable populations. Algerians were frustrated this month by repeated delays after promises of an imminent vaccine rollout. Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune has been convalescing from COVID-19 side effects for over a month at an undisclosed location in Germany.