Uganda to Receive 300,000 Doses of Sinovac Vaccine From China, Envoy Confirms
China has donated 300,000 doses of the Sinovac-CoronaVac COVID-19 vaccines to Uganda. The vaccines are expected to arrive in the country this Saturday, according to the new Chinese Ambassador to Uganda Zhang Lizhong.
This will be the first consignment of another type of vaccine to come to Uganda after AstraZeneca which has been used to inoculate more than one million people since the start of the exercise in March.
The Sinovac-CoronaVac COVID-19 vaccine was validated in June by the World Health Organization (WHO) for emergency use, giving countries, funders, procuring agencies and communities the assurance that it meets international standards for safety, efficacy and manufacturing. The vaccine is produced by the Beijing-based pharmaceutical company Sinovac.
The organisation recommended its use as two doses of 0.5 ml each given intramuscularly, with an interval of 2–4 weeks between the first and second dose. Sinovac has delivered more than 1 billion doses of the vaccine, to among others, Brazil, Turkey, The Philippines, Indonesia and Chile.
The arrival of the Sinovac consignment was confirmed at a meeting in State House, Entebbe, where the new ambassador was presenting his credentials to President Yoweri Museveni on Tuesday evening.
During the meeting, Museveni hailed the excellent relationship between Uganda and China especially the support in the economic fields and added that Uganda is looking forward to scientific cooperation with China in the development of the COVID-19 vaccines.
“We have had a very good relationship with China for a very long time. We are grateful for the support China has given to us; the stadium, soft loans, and other programs and projects. We are now looking at the Standard Gauge Railway,” Museveni said.
He also noted that the economic rise of China should be an opportunity for more cooperation including business. On his part, Lizhong said that China will continue to support the economic transformation and industrialization of Uganda, and will encourage more Chinese investors to come and do business in Uganda as the investment environment and security are very conducive.