China Donates 800,000 COVID-19 Vaccine Doses to Ethiopia

October 26, 2021

BY STAFF REPORTER

ADDIS ABABA – China has donated Sino pharm COVID-19 vaccines, totaling 800,000 doses, arrived in the Ethiopian, giving a boost to the East African nation’s vaccination efforts.

During the handover, Ethiopia’s Minister of Health Dr. Lia Tadesse said the COVID-19 vaccine has been donated by various international organizations and governments so far and the Chinese government had previously provided more than 1 million doses of the vaccine, which the Ethiopian government said has played an important role in combating the virus.

Lia during her stay with Xinhua said the Chinese-donated vaccines have proved effective as data shows that vaccinated people are less vulnerable to COVID-19 than the unvaccinated ones.

 “For us as a country, specific effectiveness data is still to be done, but we have seen that those people who are dying in health facilities are those who are not vaccinated,” she said.

 “This gives us enough evidence that we need to take the vaccines that are made available. We would like to assure that these are the vaccines that can prevent the disease, but also primarily prevent severe disease and death if even infected,” the Ethiopian Health Minister said.

Zhao Zhiyuan, Chinese Ambassador to Ethiopia, said that the Chinese government-donated vaccines are playing a crucial role in Ethiopia’s efforts in combating COVID-19, restoring the economy from the impact of the pandemic, and protecting people’s health.

“China will do its best to continue with vaccine assistance to Ethiopia and promote bilateral exchanges and cooperation in public health sectors,” Zhao said after handing over the vaccines.

China will strive to provide 2 billion COVID-19 vaccine doses to the world throughout this year and offer 100 million U.S. dollars to COVAX. The 100 million U.S. dollars to COVAX will mainly go to the distribution of vaccines to developing countries.

The Ethiopian Herald October 26/2021