HARARE, (The Southern African Times) – Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa on Friday said the country will receive a donation of 75,000 COVID-19 vaccine doses from India as his government steps up efforts in combating the pandemic.
“We are grateful to our Indian friends for committing to donate 75,000 COVID vaccines and the opportunity to buy more moving forward.
“We are working tirelessly to obtain sufficient vaccines so we can overcome this virus and revive our country,” Mnangagwa said in an update on his official Twitter account.
Zimbabwe aims to inoculate at least 10 million of its 16 million citizens to achieve herd immunity.
Meanwhile, Zimbabwe on Thursday started rolling out its COVID-19 inoculation program following the arrival of vaccines donated by China.
The vaccination program, which started with frontline health workers, will be done in three phases, with 22 percent vaccinated under phase one, 18.4 percent under phase two and 18.4 percent under phase three.
The country has also purchased 600,000 Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine doses, which are expected to arrive in the country in March.
The southern African country is also in advanced negotiations to acquire the Sputnik V vaccine from Russia.
In addition, more vaccines are being sourced from the World Health Organization-backed Covax scheme.
