Somalia has joined the growing list of countries to receive the COVID-19 vaccines, under the COVAX initiative which aims to ensure fair and equitable access of all nations to the pandemic-beating solution. A consignment of 300,000 doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine arrived at Aden Abdulle International Airport in Mogadishu, and was received in the presence of high-level officials of the Federal Ministry of Health and the United Nations in Somalia. The United Nations Secretary-General's Special Representative for Somalia, James Swan, hailed the Somali authorities for their sustained efforts to combat COVID-19 and pledged the world body’s continuing support to roll out a nationwide vaccination campaign to contain the spread of the pandemic. “We commend the Somali Federal Government and Federal Member States for efforts over the past year to combat the pandemic through education, through preventive measures, through improved health services,” he said.