Zimbabwe starts coronavirus vaccination as Veep gets first jab

Zimbabwe kicked-off its COVID-19 vaccination programme on Thursday after receiving a donation of 200,000 doses of the Sinopharm vaccine from China earlier in the week.

Vice-President Constantino Chiwenga, who doubles as the country’s health minister, was the first to receive the jab, at Harare’s Wilkins Hospital.

Zimbabwe aims to vaccinate around 60,000 healthcare and other frontline workers in the first round of vaccinations. The elderly and those with chronic conditions will follow.

The southern African country has so far reported more than 35,000 COVID-19 cases and more than 1,400 deaths.

Chiwenga told Parliament on Tuesday that Zimbabwe’s vaccination programme, which is free of charge, was targeting at least 10 million people, roughly 60% of the population.