Zimbabwean president thanks China for another 10 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines

Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa thanked the Chinese government for its decision to provide his country with another 10 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines in a televised speech on Jan 12.

China's assistance will help the Zimbabwean government to better fight the pandemic at this critical moment when the country is facing a fourth wave of the pandemic and fighting against the Omicron variant, he said.

Mnangagwa said he sincerely appreciated China's new vaccine assistance to Africa announced at the Eighth Ministerial Conference of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation.

Thanks to China's strong support, a large number of African countries and other developing countries, Zimbabwe included, have obtained effective and affordable vaccines, he said.

Since the outbreak of the pandemic in Zimbabwe, the Chinese government and people have provided tremendous help to its anti-pandemic fight, Mnangagwa said. In addition to vaccine cooperation, China has offered medical supplies and dispatched medical experts to help fight the virus in the country, he added.

These COVID-19 vaccines sent by China will arrive in Zimbabwe in different shipments. Since February last year, China has assisted Zimbabwe with several batches of vaccines, and the Zimbabwean government has also purchased multiple shipments of vaccines from China.

More than 95 percent of the COVID-19 vaccines administered in the country are produced in China.