Staff Reporter

Zimbabwe yesterday received 25 000 doses of Sputnik V vaccine from Russia, a donation arranged by Russian diamond producer Alrosa Zimbabwe.

Health and Childcare Deputy Minister, Dr John Mangwiro and Alrosa Zimbabwe Deputy Chief Executive Officer Mr Vladimir Marchenko received the life-saving vaccines at the Robert Gabriel Mugabe Airport.

Posting on its Twitter handle after the delivery, Russian Embassy in Zimbabwe tweeted, “Today 25 000 doses of the Russian vaccine Sputnik V was delivered to Harare. The donation is arranged by Alrosa Zimbabwe in support of the humanitarian assistance provided by Russia to Zimbabwe in order to fight the Covid-19 pandemic.”

The Russian Sputnik V, Sinopharm and Sinovac from China and India’s Covaxin are among the vaccines authorised for use in the country by the Medicines Control Authority of Zimbabwe.

The Sputnik V vaccine, once scorned by the West, has now been approved for use in more than 20 countries and has an efficacy rate of 92 percent.

Zimbabwe is expecting another batch of 500 000 doses of vaccine by 15 June 2021 as the fight against the deadly pandemic continues.

To-date, a total of 689 920 people have been vaccinated against Covid-19 in Zimbabwe. As at 9 June 2021, the country had 39 432 confirmed cases, including 36 917 recoveries and 1 622 deaths.