HARARE (Bloomberg) — Zimbabwe will receive 200,000 Sinopharm coronavirus vaccines donated by China on Feb. 15, allowing the southern African country to kick-start a campaign to inoculate two-thirds of its population.
The country is separately expecting the delivery of an unspecified amount of purchased vaccines from China in early March, Information Minister Monica Mutsvangwa told reporters after a cabinet meeting Tuesday in the capital, Harare.
“Efforts to procure other Covid-19 vaccines such as the Sputnik V vaccine from Russia are underway,” she said. “India, like China, has also offered a donation and an option to purchase commercially.”
Zimbabwe’s outbreak is overwhelming hospitals, and two cabinet ministers died in January after contracting the virus. Russia is also donating an unspecified amount of shots, the state-owned Zimpapers Television Network reported earlier Tuesday, citing President Emmerson Mnangagwa.
