Large Shipment of Chinese Vaccines Arrive in Ethiopia at a Crucial Time for Beijing’s Ties With Addis Ababa

Handover ceremony at Addis Ababa's international airport of a new batch of donated vaccines from China. Image via Xinhua.

China’s ambassador to Ethiopia, Zhao Zhiyuan handed over a donation of 800,000 doses of Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine on Sunday to Health Minister Lia Tadesse at a ceremony at the international airport in Addis Ababa.

What’s notable here is that Ethiopia has been the recipient of a disproportionately large amount of donated vaccines from China (more than 1.8 million doses) compared to most other African countries that have been required to purchase the bulk of their jabs from Chinese pharmaceutical companies.

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by Eric Olander

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