The Zimbabwean government on Friday donated 50,000 doses of Chinese-manufactured Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccines to Botswana.

President Emmerson Mnangagwa revealed this while opening the 3rd session of the Botswana-Zimbabwe Bi-National Commission in the country’s resort town of Victoria Falls.

“In the spirit of Ubuntu and our strong fraternal relations, the Government and people of Zimbabwe are pleased to donate 50,000 Sinopharm doses as well as medical oxygen to the Government and people of Botswana,” he said. 

Zimbabwe has secured more than 20 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines, mainly from China, which are enough to cover the country’s eligible population.

The vaccines include 12 million doses that have been donated by China to Zimbabwe since February 2021.

In the spirit of regional cooperation and sisterly nationhood, the Zimbabwean government in August last year also donated 20,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccines to Namibia.

Zimbabwe was pushing for more people to get vaccinated against COVID-19 and as of Thursday, 3,381,046 people had received the complete set of two doses; 4,347,329 got their first doses and 113,462 received the booster doses.

To date, the country has recorded 234,967 COVID-19 cases, with 225,447 recoveries and 5,390 deaths.

(Xinhua/NAN)