DAR ES SALAAM — Tanzania on Oct 8 received 1,065,600 doses of the Sinopharm vaccine from China under COVAX, boosting the East African nation's vaccination campaign against COVID-19.

Speaking shortly after receiving the vaccines, Minister for Health, Community Development, Gender, Elderly and Children Dorothy Gwajima expressed gratitude for the vaccines, saying the donation will help accelerate Tanzania's vaccination campaign launched by President Samia Suluhu Hassan on July 28.

COVAX is a global program aimed at providing equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines.

She said a total of 760,962 citizens have been vaccinated on Tanzania's mainland and 10,800 citizens have received the jabs in Zanzibar as of Oct 7.

Xu Chen, Minister Counsellor and Deputy Chief of Mission at the Chinese Embassy in Tanzania, said the donated vaccines will bolster Tanzania's fight against the pandemic.

He said the Chinese government and Tanzania's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and East African Cooperation are working very closely to facilitate the donation of two consignments totaling about 1.5 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines from China.

The hand-over ceremony at Julius Nyerere International Airport in the commercial capital Dar es Salaam was attended by high-ranking government officials and representatives from the United Nations, the World Health Organization and the UN Children's Fund.