HARARE, (The Southern African Times) – Zimbabwe has hit a major milestone in its COVID-19 vaccine rollout, with more than a million people having receiving at least their first jab.
As of Thursday evening, a total of 1,036,252 people had been vaccinated against COVID-19, according to a daily update by the health ministry.
Vaccinations rose significantly over the past two weeks as more people rushed to receive their jabs following a surge in cases driven by the highly transmissible Delta variant.
On Wednesday, Zimbabwe registered 3,110 new COVID-19 cases, its highest daily figure since the onset of the pandemic last year. The highest toll was registered on Thursday when 86 deaths were recorded in 24 hours.
The southern African country has so far recorded 78,872 confirmed cases, including 49,774 recoveries and 2,418 deaths.
Zimbabwe is now targeting 100,000 daily vaccinations to achieve herd immunity by year-end.
The country started a mass vaccination program in February with a target to inoculate 60 percent of its approximately 14 million people by the end of the year.
Zimbabwe has been mainly using two kinds of vaccines, from China’s Sinopharm and Sinovac, to inoculate its population.
