With the new batch, Bolivia has 12 million doses of Sinopharm's vaccine. | Photo: File from February 2021

La Paz, December 27 (RHC)-- Bolivia received on Sunday night a donation of three million doses of Sinopharm's Chinese vaccine against COVID-19 -- the largest delivery from China to the South American country.

The President of Bolivia, Luis Arce, indicated that the new batch of Sinopharm will be used for the vaccination of children from 5 to 11 years old.  The president thanked his counterpart Xi Jinping and the people of China for the new donation.

The Deputy Minister of Foreign Trade, Benjamín Blanco, said that with the new batch, his country has 12 million doses of Sinopharm's vaccine, which represents 58 percent of all the vaccines that have arrived in Bolivia.   Blanco announced that the shipment also includes syringes to be used in the vaccination process and commented that batches of Moderna vaccines are expected to arrive on December 31 and January 1st.

According to the country's health authorities, to date 9.5 million doses of vaccines from Sinopharm, AstraZeneca, Pfizer, Sputnik V and Johnson & Johnson have been administered to people over 18 years of age.   About 739,400 adolescents aged 12 to 17 years received the two doses and 152,663 were vaccinated with the first dose.

Also 152,663 children between 5 and 11 years of age have already received the first dose of the vaccine since it was licensed on December 9. They received the Sinopharm and Pfizer vaccines.

Bolivia has received donations of anticovid-19 vaccines from China, Argentina and, through the Covax mechanism, from France, Spain and the United States.