国际英语新闻:Algeria launches COVID-19 vaccine campaign

ALGIERS, Jan. 30 (Xinhua) -- Algeria's COVID-19 vaccine rollout kicked off Saturday in the town of Blida, where the country's first case was reported in early 2020.

Imane Slatnia, a dentist surgeon, took the first jab of Russia's Sputnik-V vaccine at a hospital in Blida, some 50 km southwest of the capital, Algiers, in the presence of health authorities.

The campaign is set to start nationwide with healthcare workers, the elderly and other vulnerable populations.

The North African country received its first batch of vaccines on Friday at the Boufarik military airport, west of Algiers.

Algeria is due to expand COVID-19 vaccine authorization to the types respectively developed by British AstraZeneca and China's Sinopharm, said Minister of Health Abderrahmane Benbouzid at the launching ceremony.

The country's tally of COVID-19 cases reached 106,359 on Wednesday, with a death toll of 2,877.