Mozambique: Vaccines from China arrived on Wednesday – AIM report

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Mozambique: Vaccines from China arrived on Wednesday – AIM report

4:25 CAT | 24 Feb 2021

Photo: TVM

Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi announced on Wednesday that the first batch of Covid-19 vaccines would arrive from China later in the day.

Using his Facebook page, Nyusi said he had been in regular contact with Chinese President Xi Jinping over the past two months about access to the Chinese vaccine. As a result, as from Wednesday Mozambique will be receiving the Chinese vaccine for priority groups, first and foremost for health workers.

“With the arrival of this shipment, our challenge remains guaranteeing the arrival of other doses”, said Nyusi, “and negotiations with our partners are at an advanced stage”.

It was not stated in Nyusi’s message whether the Chinese vaccines are a gift, or how many doses will arrive.

Meanwhile United States President Joe Biden has announced funding of four billion US dollars for the COVID-19 Vaccines Access Facility (COVAX), which supports access to safe and effective vaccines for 92 low-and middle-income countries, including Mozambique.

A press release from the US embassy in Maputo says this contribution “will support the purchase and delivery of safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines for the world’s most vulnerable and at-risk populations, including frontline health care workers. This investment is critical to controlling the pandemic and slowing the emergence of new variants as well as helping restart the global economy”.

Two billion dollars will be available immediately and the remaining two billion “will be released as other donors contribute with increased financial commitments to this important effort”, said the release.

It cites remarks to the United Nations Security Council, by Secretary of State Antony Blinken that “COVID has shown us that no nation can act alone in the face of a pandemic. The United States will work with our partners across the globe to expand manufacturing and distribution capacity and to increase access to COVID-19 vaccines, including to marginalised populations.”

The embassy added that in Mozambique the US Government “is providing an additional 3.7 million dollars to help guarantee the country’s vaccine readiness per COVAX requirements. This includes planning the delivery and distribution of the vaccines throughout Mozambique, and technical assistance in the provision of comprehensive medical treatment to patients with COVID-19, including in the safe and effective utilisation of oxygen”.

The release said that the US has donated 50 ventilators to the Ministry of Health and invested more than 20.4 million dollars in training, supplies, and equipment to support Mozambique’s COVID-19 response.

Source: AIM