Tunisia receives first batch of COVID-19 vaccines through COVAX Facility
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17 Mar 2021
Tunis March 17, 2021- Tunisia received today the first batch of 93,600 doses of Pfizer COVID-19 vaccines through the COVAX Facility. This delivery is part of a first wave of arrivals that will continue during the year, with the goal of vaccinating 20% of the population in Tunisia.
“This shipment represents an important step in the fight against COVID-19 and Tunisia is delighted to receive this first batch of vaccines through the COVAX initiative. The country has prepared well for its vaccination campaign and is committed to providing the vaccine for free and in a way that guarantees access for all residents in Tunisia (18 years and above) to the vaccine without any discrimination,” said Faycal Ben Salah, Tunisia’s Director General of Health. “We are confident that the national vaccination campaign, launched on Saturday March 13, and which benefited nursing staff as a priority
Stalemate Between Tunisia’s Prime Minister, President Continues With No End in Sight Tara Kavaler
As political elite engages in brinkmanship, concerns for democracy grow
President Kais Saied and Prime Minister Hichem Mechichi continue to fight over whether the president or parliament will dominate the governance of Tunisia’s young democracy.
Citing corruption, Saied has declined to swear in 11 of Mechichi’s cabinet minister picks approved by the Assembly of the Representatives of the People, Tunisia’s parliament.
Under Tunisia’s constitution, the president has the power to pick the heads of the foreign and defense ministries, while the remaining cabinet members are the responsibility of the prime minister.
Kais Saied said the reshuffle would be unconstitutional on procedural grounds, condemned the absence of women among the prospective new ministers, and said that some likely new cabinet members may have conflicts of interest - although didn t give details.
The Democratic bloc MP, Zouhair Maghzaoui, said his parliamentary group will not give a vote of confidence to the ministers proposed in the cabinet reshuffle announced by Prime Minister Hichem Mechichi earlier in January.
The political paralysis comes as the Covid-19 crisis weakens an already battered economy that shrank more than 8 per cent last year, and as both foreign lenders and Tunisia s powerful unions urge fast reforms.
Tunisia MP launches hunger strike in protest of abuse in parliament
Tunisian deputy Samia Abbou during a parliament session at Tunisian Parliament in Tunis, Tunisia on 13 September 2017 [Nacer Talel/Anadolu Agency] January 12, 2021 at 5:02 pm
Female Member of Tunisia s Parliament Samia Abbou has launched a hunger strike in protest against alleged abuse she has suffered at the hands of her colleagues.
The representative of the Democratic Bloc took to Facebook to announce her protest action and said: Following the events in the Assembly of the Representatives of the People on December 7, 2020, it was a shock to Tunisian women and Tunisians inside and outside the Council, and a disgrace in its history represented by the deliberate practice of physical violence.