Burundi, one of the last countries in the world to start inoculating its population against Covid-19, says it has agreed to take Covax vaccines — but with a condition, AFP reports.

The change of heart came a day after the IMF agreed in principle to a $78 million (65m euro) aid package to help Burundi deal with the fallout of the pandemic.

Health Minister Thaddee Ndikumana announced on Wednesday that Burundi would accept Covax vaccines offered by the World Bank, but would refuse to sign a waiver he said was demanded by pharmaceutical companies.

Burundi along with Eritrea, Haiti and North Korea are the only countries yet to start Covid-19 immunisation campaigns, after Tanzania began rolling out vaccinations on Wednesday.

President Evariste Ndayishimiye and his predecessor Pierre Nkurunziza, who died suddenly in June 2020 amid speculation he had contracted Covid, had previously downplayed the gravity of the pandemic, saying God had spared Burundi from its ravages.