Zimbabwe has bought another 3.5 million COVID-19 vaccines – to be delivered over the next three months – in its latest drive to boost its economy by achieving herd immunity.

Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube says the doses are expected to aid economic recovery by allowing businesses to operate.

The Zimbabwean government plans to vaccinate 10 million people out its population of nearly 15 million, with almost 1.4 million people receiving the jab so far, according to the latest WHO data.

Moneyweb reports that 2 million doses of the latest shipment will come from Sinovac (in addition to an earlier 2 million-dose batch of the Chinese-developed vaccine) and 1.5 million from Sinopharm. In total the country has received nearly 3 million vaccine doses, including Sinopharm, Sinovac, Covaxin and Sputnik V.

The country has to date registered just more than 53 000 COVID-19 cases since the start of the pandemic.

6 July 2021
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