By Abiola Olawale
Zimbabwe on Monday received 200,000 doses of Sinopharm Covid-19 vaccines from China in first batch of delivery.
Zimbabwe who is among the three African countries listed by China to receive COVID-19 vaccines, became the second country to receive its vaccines as Equatorial Guinea earlier had its vaccines delivered on Wednesday.
However, Sierra Leone, the third African country also listed was yet to receive its vaccines.
Zimbabwean Vice President, Constantino Chiwenga, alongside the Chinese Ambassador to Zimbabwe, Guo Shaochun were present at the handover ceremony of the vaccines at the Robert Mugabe International Airport on Monday.
Reacting to the development, Emmerson Mnangagwa, President of Zimbabwe, on Monday, shared photos of a cargo plane with -19 vaccines on his official Twitter handle.
He also announced the country will start inoculation of the COVID-19 vaccines this week.
His tweet reads, “The first batch of vaccines for Zimbabwe has been successfully delivered. We start vaccinating Zimbabweans this week! The faster our country is protected against this virus, the faster Zimbabwe’s economy can flourish.”
Recall that Zimbabwe Health Ministry had on Friday said in a statement that it will begin inoculation of COVID-19 vaccines this week.
The statement also stated that the frontline workers deemed most at risk of infection have been lined up to receive the first shots.
The statement reads: “The vaccine will immediately be distributed to all provinces and districts across the country. The vaccination programme begins next week after the country takes delivery of the first batch of Covid-19 vaccines.
“The vaccines will be first distributed to 10 provincial storage facilities, then to 1,800 clinics.”
China through its Foreign Ministry spokesman, Wang Wenbin on February 8, had announced it w to provide vaccines to 53 developing countries.
