Tunis, Aug 9 (IANS): Tunisia on Sunday kicked off national vaccination against Covid-19 as 335 centers across 24 provinces started to vaccinate citizens aged 40 and above.

This initiative was organized by the health ministry in coordination with the defense, interior and education ministries and in cooperation with several departments and components of the civil society, the Xinhua news agency reported.

The vaccination process started at 7:00 a.m. local time and will continue until 7:00 p.m.

As of 3:00 p.m., a total of 302,751 people have been vaccinated, said the health ministry in a statement.

"The health ministry is looking forward to vaccinating one million people of the targeted age group (40 and above)," said Amanallah Messaadi, a member of the Tunisian scientific committee for the fight against the coronavirus.

The goal of the ministry is to vaccinate 50 per cent of the country's population by the end of October 2021.