Zimbabwe in Talks With Russia on Covid Vaccine, Sunday Mail Says

(Bloomberg) --

Zimbabwe is in talks with Russia to acquire a supply of the Sputnik V Covid-19 vaccine, state-owned media reported Sunday.

“We are working out on the modalities,” Anastasia Samoylenko, a Russian embassy official, told the Sunday Mail.

No further details were provided on vaccine quantities and when deliveries may begin for the southern African nation. The Sputnik V vaccine, once scorned by the West, has now been approved for use in at least 20 countries and shown to rival U.S. and European Union-produced shots with an efficacy of 92%.

On Thursday, President Emmerson Mnangagwa said in a televised address that the country, which has been under a strict lockdown since Jan. 5, would now adopt vaccines as “a second preventative measure.” Finance and Economic Development Secretary George Guvamatanga also said the country would spend $100 million acquiring 10 million vaccine doses to inoculate two-thirds of its adult population.

The first-roll out of vaccinations to health-care workers and most vulnerable groups will include 200,000 doses of the SinoPharm vaccine, donated by China.

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