More jabs from China arrive in Zimbabwe and Cambodia

HARARE/PHNOM PENH－Zimbabwe on Saturday received a shipment of a COVID-19 vaccine from Chinese drugmaker Sinopharm as the southern African country ramps up vaccinations to battle a third wave of the coronavirus pandemic.

The country is also expecting to take delivery of a vaccine from another Chinese pharmaceutical company, Sinovac Biotech, this week.

The latest vaccine delivery from China comes as Zimbabwe registers a rebound in COVID-19 cases, prompting authorities to introduce new restrictive measures to curtail the spread of the coronavirus.

On hand for the arrival of the Sinopharm doses at Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport in Harare, Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube said the treasury has set aside enough resources to buy vaccines.

Apart from saving lives, the vaccination drive will accelerate the country's economic recovery, he said.

"When people are vaccinated, when citizens are vaccinated, it's easier for companies to operate, it's easier to do business, and carrying on with business is what will revive the economy."

The vaccines are expected to boost the country's vaccination drive. Some 725,582 people had received a first dose by Saturday, with 467,733 getting their second doses.

Zimbabwe is relying mainly on the China-supplied Sinopharm and Sinovac vaccines.

The country aims to inoculate 60 percent of its 14 million people to achieve so-called herd immunity by the end of the year.

In Cambodia, a new batch of the Sinovac vaccine arrived in the capital Phnom Penh on Saturday, giving another boost to the country's vaccination drive.

At the city's airport for the handover the doses, Economy and Finance Ministry's Permanent Secretary of State Vongsey Vissoth said they were purchased from the drugmaker.

He thanked China for supplying the vaccine doses in a timely manner.

"The special bond of Cambodia-China friendship has played an invaluable role to ensure that the vaccines are available on time for Cambodia to inoculate our people," he said.

Cambodia has secured more than 10 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines from China and the World Health Organization's COVAX facility, Vongsey Vissoth said.

Xinhua