Tanzania receives more donation of COVID-19 vaccines from China

Chinese Ambassador to Tanzania Chen Mingjian (L) and Tanzanian Minister of Health, Community Development, Gender, Elderly and Children Ummy Mwalimu attend a handover ceremony of COVID-19 vaccines at the Julius Nyerere International Airport in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, on Jan. 26, 2022. (Xinhua/Herman Emmanuel)

The government of Tanzania on Wednesday received the second donation batch of 800,000 doses of Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccines from China.

DAR ES SALAAM -- The government of Tanzania on Wednesday received the second donation batch of 800,000 doses of Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccines from China.

The donation was handed over to the Minister of Health, Community Development, Gender, Elderly and Children, Ummy Mwalimu, by the Chinese Ambassador to Tanzania, Chen Mingjian, at the Julius Nyerere International Airport in Dar es Salaam.

"We very much thank China for the timely donation that will help us to accelerate Tanzania's vaccination campaign against the pandemic," Mwalimu said shortly after she had received the vaccines.

Chinese Ambassador to Tanzania Chen Mingjian (R) touches elbows with Tanzanian Minister of Health, Community Development, Gender, Elderly and Children Ummy Mwalimu during a handover ceremony of COVID-19 vaccines at the Julius Nyerere International Airport in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, on Jan. 26, 2022. (Xinhua/Herman Emmanuel)

She said the 800,000 Sinopharm vaccine doses will be used to fully vaccinate 400,000 people, adding that the first batch of 500,000 Sinopharm vaccine doses which were donated by China in Nov. 2021 had been used to fully vaccinate 250,000 people.

For her part, Chen said China has delivered the first batch of 500,000 doses of Sinopharm vaccine donation to Tanzania on November 1, 2021 and another 1 million doses of China-donated Sinovac vaccines will be delivered soon.

"We sincerely hope the Chinese vaccines can play an effective role in assisting the Tanzanian government to control the spread of the virus and protect the lives and health of Tanzanian people," said Chen.

The Chinese envoy said as virus was still raging in the world, strong confidence and cooperation were needed to defeat the pandemic.

Chen said that "we need to strengthen international cooperation, fully leverage vaccines as a powerful weapon, ensure their equitable distribution, quicken vaccination and close the immunization gap, so as to build multiple lines of defense against the virus and speed up efforts to build a global community of health for all."

As the Omicron variant is spreading rapidly around the world, China is willing to make continuous contribution to Africa's fight against the pandemic, Chen said.