50,000 doses of Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccines arriving tomorrow

Sponsored Advertisement

Fifty thousand (50,000) doses of Chinese made Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine is arriving tomorrow.

The vaccines will arrive around midday tomorrow with a hand over ceremony scheduled to take place at the airport.

Sponsored Advertisement

A programme sent to the press from the Ministry of Health and Medical Services states the deputy primer minister Manasseh Maelanga will receive the vaccines from Chinese Ambassador Li Ming.

PM Manasseh Sogavare had said this week that the government of the Peoples Republic of China has donated 50,000 doses of the Sinopharm vaccine to Solomon Islands.

“We expect the 50,000 does to arrive in the country on 11 April 2021 (tomorrow),” he said.

He said the Technical working group together with the National Covid-19 Coordinating Committee will shortly be looking into the roll-out plan for the Sinopharm vaccine.

More than 50 countries have received and are using Sinopharm Vaccines under their own ‘Emergency Use Authorisations’ either through donations or direct procurement.

“We are closely monitoring the approval process by the World Health Organization of the Sinopharm vaccine to guide our roll-out planning,” he said.

SBMOnline understands that the WHO has yet to approve the vaccine for use.

Solomon Islands has already received 24,000 doses of AstraZeneca vaccines which is currently rolled out in Honiara and at the border.