Zimbabwe to receive COVID-19 vaccine doses from China: envoy

HARARE -- Zimbabwe will be among the first three African countries to receive the COVID-19 vaccine from China.

The other African countries to receive the vaccines first are Sierra Leone and Equatorial Guinea.

Chinese Ambassador to Zimbabwe Guo Shaochun said Tuesday that in all, China will supply the first batch of vaccines to 14 developing countries, the others being Pakistan, Brunei, Nepal, the Philippines, Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos, Sri Lanka, Mongolia, Palestine and Belarus.

"Zimbabwe will be one of the first 14 countries to receive vaccine aid from China very soon," he said on Twitter.

Zimbabwe, like many other countries, is desperate to get vaccines that will stop the spread of COVID-19 which has so far killed 1,234 people from 33,548 infections as of Feb. 1.

Guo posted a statement from Wang Wenbin, spokesperson for the Chinese foreign ministry, who said that China had been acting through concrete actions on the commitment of making COVID-19 vaccines, developed and deployed in China, a global public product.

This would ensure that there is greater accessibility and affordability of vaccines in developing countries.

"That's what we have been saying and what we've been doing," Wang said in the statement posted on Twitter.