Ethiopia set to receive 300,000 doses of China's Sinopharm vaccine

Ethiopia’s Ministry of Health confirmed on Monday that the country will receive 300,000 COVID-19 vaccine doses from Sinopharm, the state-backed China National Pharmaceutical Group (Sinopharm) on Tuesday.

Health Minister Lia Tadesse confirmed the news to the Reuters news agency via a text message.

The Sinopharm doses will be the second consignment the country will receive after the first shots delivered under the COVAX equitable vaccine sharing initiative arrived in the country earlier this month.

The country joins a host of African countries that have received Sinopharm doses, among others Gabon, Niger, Chad, Sierra Leone, Mauritania, Equatorial Guinea, Zimbabwe, Egypt and Mozambique.

Senegal on the other hand, bought doses from the Asian giants before donating a quota of their doses to neighbouring Guinea-Bissau and The Gambia. Zimbabwe also announced placing purchase orders with Sinopharm.

Reports show that Ethiopia, Africa’s second most populous nation, is struggling to administer shots and curb rising infections.

Health Ministry data shows that in the past month, the country recorded a 26% increase in coronavirus infections and deaths rose by 18.

Africa CDC, the continent’s disease control outfit said last week that Ethiopia had reported the highest number of new cases in the last week on the continent.

Ethiopia has recorded 200,563 infections and 2,801 deaths since its first case was announced in March 2020.