Tunisia receives first batch of coronavirus vaccines

TUNIS, Tunisia (AP) — Tunisia has received its first batch of coronavirus vaccines. The 30,000 doses of Russia’s Sputnik-V arrived Tuesday and the North African country will start inoculations on Saturday. Tunisia’s vaccination program has dragged behind its neighbors, even as virus infections and hospitalizations have remained high. Vaccinations are scheduled to start with health care workers, soldiers and security officers, people over 65 and people with chronic health problems. The country is expecting deliveries of hundreds of thousands of new doses in the coming weeks of Russian and Chinese vaccines as well as those from Pfizer-BioNTech and AstraZeneca. Tunisia has reported one of the highest virus death tolls in Africa.