Zimbabwe Rejects Donation of COVID-19 Vaccine Amid Shortages
Voice of America
HARARE, ZIMBABWE - Zimbabwe's government is facing criticism for turning down a donation of three million doses of the Johnson and Johnson COVID-19 vaccine. Authorities say they are not prepared to deal with the refrigeration requirements and possible side effects. But critics also point to politics as the reason behind the government’s decision.
In a letter to the African Export-Import Bank, Zimbabwe’s government explained it was still analyzing possible side effects of the Johnson and Johnson’s COVID-19 vaccine. Finance Ministry Secretary George Guvamatanga also said the country does not have the storage facilities required for the doses. But in an interview, Dr. Norman Matara from the Zimbabwe Association for Doctors for Human Rights, said Johnson and Johnson vaccines are stored at the same temperatures as China’s Sinopharm and Sinovac vaccines, which Zimbabwe has been using since February.Palestinians gather at the site of an Israeli strike on a camp for internally displaced people in Rafah on May 27, 2024. Fire rages following an Israeli strike on an area designated for displaced Palestinians, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, in this still picture taken from a video, May 26, 2024. Palestinians gather at the site of an Israeli strike on a camp for internally displaced people in Rafah on May 27, 2024. A member of the bomb squad of the Israeli police collects debris after a rocket fired by Palestinian militants struck in the Israeli city of Herzliya on May 26, 2024.
Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili, right, and Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze, left, leave a podium after marking Independence Day in Tbilisi, Georgia, May 26, 2024. Demonstrators with Georgian national and EU flags rally during an opposition protest against a foreign influence bill as they mark their country's Independence Day, in the center of in Tbilisi, Georgia, May 26, 2024.