Acting health minister Ali Mrabet announced that Tunisia has fully vaccinated around 2.5 million people against the coronavirus.

According to the Health Ministry, 1,827,786 people received two doses, while 318,620 received one shot of the J&J/Janssen vaccine that only requires one jab.

The figure represents about 50 percent of the initial goal of the Health Ministry to vaccinate 5 million people by mid-October.

The Health Ministry renewed its called on people above 40 years of age to receive the vaccine.

Tunisia has set up 347 vaccination centers. The country started the vaccination campaign on March 13, 2021. The country faced a severe third wave of infections in July 2021, leading to the collapse of the health system.

On September 2, Tunisia registered 2,209 new cases of the virus, taking the tally to 674,047. The Health Ministry said 16 deaths were recorded on the same day, taking the toll to 23,817.

Health experts in Tunisia say that a 70 percent herd immunity can be reached when enough people have been vaccinated against the virus and when residents continue to respect preventive measures to combat the spread of the pandemic.