Peru to receive 1st batch of Chinese COVID-19 vaccine on Feb 9 - prime minister

The first batch of 1 million doses of the coronavirus vaccine produced by the China's Sinopharm will be delivered to Peru on February 9, Peruvian Prime Minister Violeta Bermudez said.

"Today [on Friday] we were informed that the first batch of 1 million doses of the vaccine will be shipped by a KLM flight from Beijing on February 8 and it will arrive in our country on February 9," Bermudez said as aired by TVPeru broadcaster.

The scheme for using the Chinese drug includes two doses of the vaccine, so at the initial stage up to 500,000 people could be immunized.

Peru's President Francisco Sagasti previously said that the government had signed a contract with Sinopharm on deliveries of 38 million doses of the vaccine in 2021.

Phase 3 of clinical trials of the Sinopharm vaccine is currently underway in the South American nation.