Yaounde, Oct 23 (IANS): Cameroon will start the fifth phase of nationwide Covid-19 vaccination next month, according to the country's Minister of Public Health Manaouda Malachie.

The campaign will run from November 18 to 27 and will target people aged 18 years and above, vaccinated people eligible for the booster dose, and pregnant and breastfeeding women, Manaouda said in a statement Friday evening.

As part of the vaccine response against Covid-19, Cameroon has already covered 12 per cent of its population aged 18 years and above with more than 1.8 million vaccinated to date, the Minister added.

"These encouraging results are not enough to protect the country from a new resurgence. Despite the period of calm observed for a few months, there are still serious cases of Covid-19," Manaouda said and added that the goal of the national vaccination campaign is to "achieve collective immunity".

Cameroon has been fighting Covid-19 since March 2020. It has logged 123,785 confirmed Covid-19 cases and has lost more than 1,900 people to the coronavirus, according to Africa CDC, Xinhua news agency reported.