In a major boost to the country’s fight against Covid-19, Zimbabwe will soon take delivery of vaccines against the virus from China.
The Chinese Embassy said yesterday what is now left is for Zimbabwe to collect the Covid-19 vaccine as the Asian economic powerhouse moves to ensure that the drug is accessible globally to all nations.
In a statement on Twitter, Chinese Ambassador to Zimbabwe Guo Shaochum said: “Zimbabwe will be one of the first 13 countries to receive vaccine aid from China very soon.”
Chinese Deputy Ambassador to Zimbabwe Mr Zhao Baogang confirmed in a telephone interview the Chinese donation to Zimbabwe saying the vaccine is ready for collection.
“We are now waiting for the Ministry of Health and Child Care to facilitate the collection and transportation of the vaccine from China. The vaccine is already there waiting for collection,” said Mr Zhao Baogang.
Already. China has donated half a million doses of the Sinopharm vaccine to Pakistan as the world economic giant lives to its commitment of making Covid-19 vaccines, developed and deployed in China, a global public good.
“Apart from Pakistan, China is also providing vaccine aid to Brunei, Nepal, the Philippines, Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos, Sri Lanka, Mongolia, Palestine, Belarus, Sierra Leone, Zimbabwe and Equatorial Guinea, altogether 13 developing countries,” the spokesperson of the Chinese Foreign Affairs Ministry said in a statement.
China has started exporting its vaccines to countries worldwide with more countries approving the use of the Chinese vaccines.
“The whole world needs to pull together in order to defeat the pandemic. China will continue to provide in a timely manner, to the best of its capability, vaccines to relevant countries, especially the developing countries, and contribute its share to building a community health for all mankind. We also hope the international community will work together to promote the equitable allocation and use of vaccines globally to make sure developing countries have access to and can afford them,” read the statement in part.
Zimbabwe has a ready US$100 million war chest to procure Covid-19 vaccine doses to inoculate at least 60 percent of the country’s population.
Finance and Economic Development permanent secretary Mr George Guvamatanga told our sister paper The Sunday Mail last week that Treasury was awaiting authorisation of the vaccines by local regulators before placing a concrete order.
“We are participating in the AU scheme and we have expressed interest already,” he said.
“The Government has set aside US$100 million for the vaccines to procure around 20 million vaccine doses to immunise 60 percent of the population, which will help us attain herd immunity.
“There are no standard prices for the vaccines because they are coming from different developers, but we have set aside US$100 million for that.
“So we are now waiting for the scientists to tell us which vaccine to buy and where to procure it from,” said Mr Guvamatanga.
“Zimbabwe has enough funds to buy the vaccines,” he added.