(Bloomberg) -- Burundi received its first Covid-19 vaccines on Thursday, a Chinese donation of 500,000 Sinopharm doses valued at $3 million.
“We have received these doses from the Chinese government as a grant,” Health Minister Thaddée Ndikumana said. More vaccines from Belgium, France, and the U.S. are expected, Ndikumana said, without giving more details.
Burundi was one of Africa's Covid-19 vaccine holdouts until July when the government asked the World Bank to arrange for doses to be delivered. African nations are struggling to get enough vaccines and to inoculate their people in order to boost economies reeling from elevated debt burdens.
The government will prioritize the inoculation of medical workers, the elderly and people with preexisting health conditions, according to Ndikumana.
Burundi has registered 19,513 Covid-19 cases and 14 deaths, according to the World Health Organization.
Burundi Capitulates on Vaccines, Leaving One Holdout in Africa
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