Coronavirus: 'I have no intention to vaccinate' - Madagascar president

"Personally I have not yet been vaccinated and I do not have any intention of getting vaccinated," he said in a televised address late Saturday.

He added that he personally preferred to stick to a yet to be scientifically proven local concoction, COVID-Organics.

The president further revealed that the southern African country is in no hurry to launch mass inoculations for his citizens.

Rajoelina said he was turning to the remedy "to protect myself and my family." He however emphasized: "The Malagasy state and I are not against the vaccine."

He reiterated the Health Ministry's position earlier this week that Madagascar will observe how vaccine rollout elsewhere proceeds before taking a firm decision on inoculations.

The World Health Organization insists the available vaccines are safe and has encouraged governments to roll them out as widely as possible.

Amnesty International criticised Rajoelina's stance, saying it represented an attack on citizens' right to the best possible healthcare.

There is no evidence that CVO "is effective in preventing Covid-19 infections", said the rights group's Madagascar researcher Tamara Leger.

Madagascar has recorded more than 22,000 Covid cases and 340 deaths over the past year.

Rajoelina said the country was entering a second wave of infections, notably due to the presence of the highly transmissible South African strain of the virus.

Last month Madagascar counted 2,483 new infections and 45 deaths, the president said, insisting it was "nothing to worry about".

With additional files from AFP