Zimbabwean Government Has No Money To Purchase The COVID-19 Vaccine - Finance Ministry Sources

The government of Zimbabwe has no adequate resources to purchase the much-needed COVID-19 vaccine, The Standard reports. This was reportedly revealed by a senior Ministry of Finance and Economic Development official who told the Standard that donors are arm twisting the government into buying their vaccines because the government has no money to purchase the vaccines.

Said the treasury official who refused to be named:

Government has no money, it simply set a budget of US$100 million and will mobilise. The government is being arm-twisted by donors because it does not have the money.

After purchasing 600 000 doses from China from the 1.8 million doses, the country will now need to mobilise money to pay for the remaining 1.2 million doses to be delivered in phases depending on availability of resources

Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube last month said the government was setting aside $100 million to purchase the COVID-19 vaccine and the government was aiming to vaccinate 10 million people to achieve herd immunity by next year.

More: The Standard.