Cameroon on Sunday received 200,000 doses of China’s Sinopharm vaccine, the first vaccine to arrive in the country, reported Anadolu Agency.
The Chinese vaccines were received by Cameroon’s Prime Minister Joseph Dion Ngute at the Nsimalen International Airport in the capital Yaounde.
“I would like to thank the Chinese government and the Chinese people for this gift which is a testimony of good relations we have with China,” Ngute told reporters.
He said that the government will soon begin dispatching the vaccines, with health workers being prioritized.
“As far as I am concerned, I am prepared to take this vaccine anytime because health professionals have told us that is it the best way to end this pandemic which is in our country for over a year now,” Ngute said.
Cameroon has recorded 61,731 coronavirus cases, with 56,926 recoveries and 919 deaths since the outbreak broke out in March last year, according to the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.
Last week, the health ministry said in a statement that the vaccine doses would help the country in its fight against the pandemic. Notably, the Central African nation is yet to start its vaccination campaign as it awaits vaccines that are in tight supply.
On Friday, Cameroon’s Health Minister Manaouda Malachi urged the people of the country to get the jab, especially those in priority groups.
Cameroon is expected to receive vaccines through the COVAX global vaccines sharing scheme aimed at helping poor countries access vaccines. It was allocated around 1.75 million doses in the scheme and has ordered 1.29 million doses.
According to the World Health Organization, the COVAX Facility has delivered vaccines to over 100 countries since its first delivery to Ghana. COVAX has delivered more than 38 million doses of vaccines from AstraZeneca, Pfizer-BioNTech and Serum Institute of India (SII) to 61 countries.
