Tanzania has received 500,000 Sinopharm vaccine doses as a donation from China. This is intended to help increase Kenya's drive to vaccinate its people against the COVID 19 pandemic. The country has a mission to vaccinate at least 60 percent of its nigh 60 million population.
Tanzania receives 500 000 Sinopharm vaccines from China
Boxes of about 500,000 donated doses of China's Sinopharm vaccine are seen in Bujumbura on October 14, 2021.
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This target was informed by experts’ advice which says the country will be free from Covid 19 if at least 60 percent of the population received the jab.
Prior to this, the East African nation had in early October received 1,065,600 doses of Sinopharm vaccines donated by the Chinese government via the COVAX facility.
Shortly after receiving the vaccines at the Julius Nyerere International Airport in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania's Minister for Health, Community Development, Gender, Elderly and Children, Dorothy Gwajima, expressed appreciation to the Chinese government for the timely donation.
"The second consignment of the vaccines donated by the Chinese government will go a long way in helping Tanzania to fight the virus pandemic," said Gwajima.
The minister encouraged her fellow countrymen and women to get the Sinopharm vaccines, saying they are safe and they have been approved by the World Health Organization.
Chen Mingjian, the Chinese Ambassador to Tanzania, said the Chinese donated vaccines will play an effective role in helping the Tanzanian government to control the spread of the virus and protect the life and health of Tanzanians.
"We have developed safe and reliable vaccines that meet scientific standards and have gradually realized the recovery of social and economic development," she said.
Chen said China has until now provided more than 120 batches of pandemic prevention supplies to African countries, and donated vaccines to more than 50 African countries and the African Union.
In July this year, Tanzania received over a million doses of the single-shot Jonson and Johnson vaccine from the U.S. Embassy in Dar es Salaam.
This brings the total number of vaccines received in the country to 2.624 million.