DAKAR (Reuters) – China has sent 100,000 COVID-19 vaccine doses to Equatorial Guinea, the Central African country’s government said on Thursday, the latest in a series of donations to countries on the continent struggling to procure shots.
The doses developed by China’s Sinopharm arrived on Wednesday in the capital Malabo, the government said in a statement. They will be enough to vaccinate 50,000 people, or 4% of Equatorial Guinea’s population.
China is aiming to cultivate goodwill through so-called vaccine diplomacy with lower-income countries. It said this month it was providing vaccine aid to 13 countries globally and planned to help a further 38.
Last week, it said planned to donate 200,000 vaccine doses to Guinea and 100,000 to Congo Republic.
Equatorial Guinea’s Vice President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mangue, the son of President Teodoro Obiang, will be vaccinated first to reassure the population, the government said. Health workers and individuals at high risk of infection will follow.
(Reporting by Nellie Peyton; Editing by Edmund Blair)
