Zimbabwe purchases 600,000 doses of vaccine; first batch expected by February 15

A total of 600,000 COVID-19 vaccine doses from China’s Sinopharm has been purchased by Zimbabwe.

The purchased vaccines is beside the 200,000 doses of vaccines donated to the African country by China.

Zimbabwe’s Minister for Information, Monica Mutsvangwa, making the disclosure on the ministry’s twitter feed on Wednesday, stated the vaccines is due to arrive in the country by February 15 and the start of March.

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Speaking further, Ms Mutsvangwa also noted that Zimbabwe was in talks to with Russia over the procurement of its Sputnik vaccines.

The donation of 200,000 doses and an initial batch of 600,000 doses which the Zimbabwe government has purchased are expected in the country by February 15 2021 and the first week of March 2021 respectively,” she said.

Only a handful of African nations have begun giving vaccinations as the continent scrambles to obtain supplies for its 1.3 billion people, even as many richer nations are racing ahead with mass immunisation campaigns.

Zimbabwe has set aside $100 million for vaccine procurement, and is looking to buy 20 million doses in a bid to immunize about 60 per cent of its population and achieve herd immunity.

Zimbabwe has so far reported 34,864 confirmed cases of the virus and 1,364 deaths, the majority of which have been recorded since the start of 2021.