Zimbabwe Receives Covaxin Covid Vaccine Donation From India
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Zimbabwe on Monday received 35 000 doses of Covaxin drug, a COVID-19 vaccine which was manufactured by the Indian Pharmaceutical company, Bharat Biotech.
The consignment is part of 75 000 doses of Covaxin donated to Zimbabwe by the Indian government.
The drug is ranked among the top coronavirus vaccines with an efficacy rate of 81 per cent.
Both President Emmerson Mnangagwa and Indian Ambassador to Zimbabwe Vijay Khanduja were at the Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport to receive the drugs.
Speaking at the event, Khanduja said the drug provides more protection against the COVID-19 variants. He said:
The drug has been used by over a million people in India and has an efficacy rate of 81 per cent. The good thing about this drug is that it works against the new variants.
Also speaking on the same occasion, Mnangagwa thanked the government of India for the gesture saying the donation arrived at a time when the country has started the second phase of the National Vaccination Programme. He said:
On behalf of myself, the government and the people of Zimbabwe, I expressed my profound gratitude to His Excellency Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi and the government of India for the donation of 75 000 doses of Covaxin of which 35 000 doses have arrived today.
This is a genuine gift and a welcome gesture from India in the midst of an unprecedented time of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The donation comes at a time when the government recently approved the use of Covaxin in our country, this testifies to a genuine desire to promote sustainable accessibility of covid-19 vaccines.