Addis Ababa October 25, 2021 (Walta) – The government of China has donated 800,000 anti-COVID pandemic vaccines to Ethiopia.
On the occasion, Health Minister, Lia Tadesse expressed her appreciation for the continued support and solidarity of the government of China during the pandemic.
She added that the vaccines will play huge role in mitigating the pandemic.
The government of Ethiopia is committed to continue to rollout vaccines across all regions, Lia stated, and added “so far, we have administered more than 4 million doses of vaccines.”
However, the Minister noted that the need is still huge and this kind of support will contribute a lot in mitigating the pandemic.
Ambassador Zhao on his part said that said President Xi Jinping has pledged to speed up the delivery of 2 billion doses of vaccines to the rest of the world throughout the year.
He added that the donation is another important step to honor President Xi’s commitment of making the vaccines a global public good.
The Ambassador underscored “In recent years, China and Ethiopia have deepened political mutual trust and win-win cooperation, contributing to ever stronger bilateral ties.”
The two countries have been making impressive co-efforts in the fight against the pandemic, Zhao stated, and noted “China will do its best to continue vaccine assistance to Ethiopia and to promote bilateral exchange and cooperation in public health sector.”
To date, China has donated 1.8 million doses of anti-COVID vaccines to Ethiopia.
The government of Ethiopia is working to vaccinate some 22 million people against COVID-19 till coming January.
According to ENA, the number of positive cases of COVID-19 virus in Ethiopia has reached 361,000, according to reports of the Ministry of Health.
So far some 6,333 persons have died due to the pandemic in the country.