Vanuatu has officially received the 20,000 doses of Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine and 22,400 syringes from the Chinese Government. China's Sinopharm was the second vaccine to arrive in Port Vila, a month after it was listed by the World Health Organisation (WHO) for emergency use. Giving the green light for this vaccine to be rolled out globally.

According to the Chinese Ambassador to Vanuatu, Zhou Haicheng, “notwithstanding its limited production capacity and enormous demand back in China, the vaccines were sent in to reaffirm China's commitment to supporting Vanuatu's pandemic response and economic recovery which remains the top priority for China and Vanuatu”.

China will continue to assist Vanuatu in the spirit of solidarity and deepen cooperation and share its experience in pandemic prevention and control. And to work with the international community to protect regional and global public health security.

In his speech the Prime Minister of Vanuatu further comment “expressing on behalf of the government and people of Vanuatu sincere appreciation to the government of China for its ongoing support and generous assistance to Vanuatu in this difficult time”. Prime Minister, Bob Loughman, said “the arrival of Sinopharm vaccine was a result of the comprehensive strategic partnership and bilateral relationships between Vanuatu and China’’.

With the recent arrival of Sinopharm vaccine, Vanuatu now has 44,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccine. Over 1,000 health workers and frontline workers have been vaccinated.  The Ministry of Health is anticipating a vaccination target of 166,500 eligible population, which is 18 years and above with goal to get as many people vaccinated as possible so that many people are protected from covid-19.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Infrastructure, Air Vanuatu and relevant Chinese companies are acknowledged for co-organizing the chartered flight that brought in the Sinopharm vaccine. While the Australian High Commission is commended for facilitating the flight operation to Vanuatu.

It’s now time for Vanuatu to rollout the vaccination program smoothly to protect the people and seize the initiative in restarting businesses activities in the circumstances of a new normal. Vanuatu has been one of the few COVID-19 free countries in the world, thanks to the strict measures the government has implemented.Vanuatu Foreign Investment Promotion Agency -VFIPA acknowledges the support of the government and non-governments organisation for working together in facilitating and speeding up the approval process of the vaccine doses to support the people and businesses throughout Vanuatu.