The country will begin administering the doses this week, President Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa said on his official Twitter profile.
“The first batch of vaccines for Zimbabwe has been successfully delivered. We are starting to vaccinate Zimbabweans this week! The faster our country is protected against this virus, the faster Zimbabwe’s economy can flourish,” he said.
The country’s Ministry of Health wrote on Twitter on Sunday that the 200,000 doses were donated by China.
Another 600,000 doses in China are due in early March, Information Minister Monica Mutsvangwa said last week. It is unclear how much the South African nation will pay, with little money, for the second batch of vaccines from China National Pharmaceutical Group (Sinopharm).
Zimbabwe’s Vice President Constantino Chiwenga, the head of the vaccination delegation that included the finance minister, said that front-line health workers would be the first to be vaccinated.
“This is a timely donation … our people have suffered from this pandemic. The vaccine offers the opportunity for our people who have endured the hardships of the economic ravages of the pandemic to finally turn a new page,” Chiwenga said.
Zimbabwe has set aside $ 100 million for the purchase of vaccines and is looking to buy 20 million doses in efforts to immunize about 60 percent of its population and gain immunity from the herd.
Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube said about 1.8 million doses of the vaccine would be purchased from China. He did not give further details.
Last week, the West African nation of Senegal paid $ 3.7 million for 200,000 doses of Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine – nearly $ 19 per fire.
Only a handful of African nations have begun administering vaccinations as the continent struggles to secure supplies for 1.3 billion people, even as many richer nations are struggling with mass immunization programs.
The African Union says it has provided about 670 million doses for the African continent.
Zimbabwe is also negotiating with Russia to purchase its Sputnik vaccines and expects more doses from India and COVAX.
To date, the country has reported nearly 35,000 confirmed cases of the virus and nearly 1,400 deaths.