happiness Chikwanha
Business Writer
Zimbabwe will procure up to 1.8 million Covid-19 vaccine doses from China’s Sinopharm, Finance and Economic Development Minister Mthuli Ncube has said.
Speaking at the Robert Mugabe International Airport where he joined other government official to receive the 200 000 vaccine doses donated by China early Monday morning, Minister Ncube said the country targets to procure more doses from China.
“We have a program. Next month we will be acquiring additional vaccines from China, to the tune of at least 600,000 doses and the programme will continue as we head towards the target of 1.8 million doses,” said Ncube.
“We will carry on until we’re able to cover the herd immunity population of at least 10 million Zimbabweans. Only then will we know that everyone is protected,” Minister Ncube said.
Zimbabwe which has raised US$100 million for the procurement of Covid-19 vaccines also has an allocation of 1,152,000 doses under the global COVAX facility and is also eligible for an additional three million doses under the African Union’s vaccine plan.
Meanwhile, as at 14 February 2021, Zimbabwe had 35 172 confirmed cases, including 30 601 recoveries and 1 400 deaths.
Bongani Ndlovu