DAKAR - Senegalese President Macky Sall received his first dose of COVID-19 vaccine manufactured by China's Sinopharm, in presidential palace here on Thursday.

Head of the Economic, Social and Environmental Council Idrissa Seck, and some members of the government and presidential office staffers were also vaccinated.

Addressing the nation after his vaccination, the Senegalese president said that he wanted to show that all people over the age of 60 should be able to be vaccinated.

He said that he and members of the government were vaccinated to set an example.

He also reassured his people about the reliability of the vaccines, calling on the Senegalese to be vaccinated and to ignore rumors about the vaccines.

President Sall stressed that his government has put a lot of efforts to acquire the vaccines.

According to latest updates of Senegalese Ministry of Health and Social Action published on Thursday, as of Wednesday, a total of 4,776 people were already vaccinated against COVID-19 with Sinopharm's vaccine.

Senegalese health authorities on Tuesday launched the national vaccination campaign against COVID-19 with the 200,000 doses of the vaccine manufactured by Sinopharm.

For this first phase of vaccination campaign, the priority targets are front-line health care workers, people over the age of 60, and people living with underlying health conditions.

Senegal reported its first confirmed case of COVID-19 on March 2, 2020. Since then, the country has recorded 33,741 positive cases, including 28,112 recoveries and 852 deaths.