CHINA PLEDGES 100, 000 DOSES OF VACCINES

By NOEL IYOMBWA CHINA has pledged to provide Zambia with 100, 000 doses of Sinopharm vaccine, Health Minister Jonas Chanda has said. Dr Chanda said the World Health Organisation recently approved the Sinopharm vaccine for emergency use in Covid-19. He said the Chinese vaccine was safe, efficacious and being was used in over 100 countries. He said the Covid-19 vaccination programme had made tremendous headway since it was launched 28 days ago. Dr Chanda said in the last 24 hours, 5, 058 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine were administered, bringing the cumulative number of vaccinated persons to 90, 916. Dr Chanda said from the figures, it was clear that Zambians had accepted the Covid-19 vaccination programme and discarded the various myths, misinformation and conspiracy theories. Meanwhile, Dr Chanda earlier told parliament that the development indicated that there had been continued community transmission. He said in the last 48 hours Zambia recorded 59 new confirmed Covid-19 cases out of the 4, 800 tests conducted in 24 districts. Dr Chanda said the districts included Kabwe, Chienge, Nchelenge, Chibombo, Chipangali and Kasempa.