Staff Reporter
Zimbabwe is expecting another delivery of the 500 000 Sinopharm vaccine doses which were ordered from China in June 2021, a Government official has said.
Addressing journalists during the 16th Post Cabinet Press Briefing in Harare yesterday, Minister of Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services, Monica Mutsvangwa revealed that as of 24th May 2021, a total of 633 635 people had received their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine and 288 437 their second dose across the country.
While encouraging the people to go and get vaccinated and to complete their set of doses, Minister Mutsvanga said, “Government continues to urge the public to go to their nearest health facility to receive their COVID-19 vaccine so that the country achieves the required herd immunity in order to control the spread of the disease.”
In February 2021, Zimbabwe received its first 200 000 coronavirus vaccines donated by the Chinese Government, a demonstration of the long bond of friendship and solidarity.
This marked the first phase of Zimbabwe’s vaccination programme, which started on February 18, 2021.
In March 2021, the country received a second batch of Sinopharm doses also donated by China, plus an additional Sinovac doses commercially procured by the Government of Zimbabwe.
Recently, People’s Liberation Army of China donated 100 000 doses of Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccines to the Zimbabwe Defence Forces which is expected to benefit members of the ZDF and their dependents.
Government continues to urge members of the public to remain vigilant and observe all the World Health Organisation (WHO) protocols and national guidelines in order to ensure that the country overcomes the deadly COVID-19 threat.
Relatedly, Minister Mutsvangwa advised that Zimbabwe was elected into the General Committee of the World Health Assembly whose main functions are determining the policies of the World Health Organisation (WHO), appointing WHO Director-General, supervising financial policies and reviewing and approving the proposed programme budget.
The Minister informed that the 74th World Health Assembly commenced on 24 May 2021 and will run virtually until 1 June 2021 under the theme “Ending this Pandemic, Preventing the Next: Building Together a Healthier, Safer and Fairer World”.
Meanwhile, as at 25 May, 2021, Zimbabwe’s cumulative COVID-19 cases stood at 38 706, with 36 517 recoveries and 1 587 deaths. The recovery rate stands at 94.3%, with 95.5% of COVID-19-positive cases being attributable to local transmission. The number of active cases stands at 602. The country aims to inoculate at least 10 million citizens to achieve the herd immunity.
