Madagascar received its first batch of coronavirus vaccines through the Covax global sharing scheme, one of the last countries in Africa to obtain the prized jabs following months of resistance by the president.

While countries across the globe scrambled to secure doses of the precious shots, Madagascar's President Andry Rajoelina showed little interest in inoculation and instead continued to promote a locally brewed herbal drink as the only required coronavirus “cure”.

But an unprecedented infection resurge last month forced Rajoelina to bow to growing criticism of his handling of the pandemic and agree to a vaccine rollout, AFP reports.

A first shipment of 250,000 Oxford/AstraZeneca jabs landed on the Indian Ocean island nation.