20k doses of Chinese vaccine SINOPHARM is next after ASTRAZENECA

Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare has announced that the next lot of vaccine to arrive and use here is the Chinese produced Sinopharm—with 20,000 doses ready to be shipped early next month.

“I am happy to advice that we have also received confirmation from the government of the Peoples Republic of China that we will receive 20,000 doses of the Sinopharm vaccines in the first or second week of April 2021 – just a few short weeks away.

“It is possible that Solomon Islands could be the first country in the Pacific that will receive the Sinopharm vaccine. We will wait for the WHO Emergency Use Authorisation [EUA] before we roll-out the Sinopharma vaccine,” he said this week.

Sogavare announced this as the government started rolling out the AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccine with the arrival of 24,000 doses last week.

As of yesterday 600 people have been vaccinated.

Sogavare said: “We are targeting 1 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines to cater for the population 18 years and over, and 1.6 million doses if we are to include children.”

He also stated that the government has already approached the government of India, a major producer of AstraZeneca vaccine and the Peoples Republic of China the producer of Sinopharm vaccine to secure additional doses of both vaccines through a combination of grants and procurement.

News@SBMOnline2021