Zimbabwean Vice President, Constantino Chiwenga, on Thursday thanked China for donating COVID-19 vaccine doses to his country.
China’s Foreign Ministry spokesman, Wang Wenbin, had said on Monday that Zimbabwe will be among the first three African countries to receive the COVID-19 vaccines from China, alongside 11 other developing countries.
Other African countries to receive the vaccines are Sierra Leone and Equatorial Guinea.
Speaking at commemorations to mark World Cancer Day, Chiwenga, who is also the Health Minister, said the kind gesture from China will boost Zimbabwe’s fight against the pandemic.
“We welcome and are very grateful to the People’s Republic of China for their donation of the COVID-19 vaccine to Zimbabwe.
“The landmark gesture will achieve a milestone in combating the pandemic,’’ he said.
He added that the Zimbabwean government would roll out COVID-19 vaccines for free to citizens who wish to be vaccinated.
The policy, he said, is inspired by humane morals that life should not be bought.
The Zimbabwean government says it has so far raised $100 million for the procurement of COVID-19 vaccine doses to inoculate at least 60 per cent of the country’s population.
Chiwenga said the government had embarked on a deliberate programme to acquire more COVID-19 vaccines.
Zimbabwe has been recording an upward trend in COVID-19 cases and deaths since the beginning of the year, as the nation grapples with a second wave of the pandemic.
As of Wednesday, the country had recorded 33,964 cases of COVID-19 and 1,269 deaths.
A total of 27,391 people had recovered from the virus. (Xinhua/NAN)
