Foreign news
First Batch Of Chinese COVID-19 Vaccine Lands In Serbia
The first batch of one million doses of a COVID-19 vaccine developed by China’s Beijing-based pharmaceutical company Sinopharm arrived in Belgrade, Serbia at 9:50 a.m. local time on Saturday.
Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, local officials, and Chinese Ambassador to Serbia Chen Bo received the consignment at Nikola Tesla International Airport in Belgrade.
Vucic said that the arrival of the vaccine is “proof of the great friendship between Serbia and China,” and it will help protect the lives of 500,000 people, adding he will also get vaccinated with the Sinopharm vaccine.
The vaccinations will start once the Chinese vaccine gets a final approval by Serbia’s Agency for Medicines and Medical Devices.
“As an ordinary person and the president of Serbia, I am convinced of the quality of the Chinese vaccine, which will be decided by our competent agency,” Vucic said.
Serbia has also purchased Russia’s Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine as well as a jab jointly developed by America’s Pfizer and Germany’s BioNTech.
The country started its COVID-19 vaccination drive late last month, and so far the country has obtained around 1.4 million doses of vaccines.
Nearly 370,000 COVID-19 infections have been reported in Serbia, while 3,708 people have died. A total of 5,409 patients are hospitalized across the country, of whom 196 have been put on respiratory ventilators.
During the pandemic, aside from providing medical supplies, China sent a medical expert team to Serbia which stayed there for months to help Serbian authorities coordinate the country’s anti-pandemic response, and the Chinese BGI group, a genome research company, also assisted the country build two “Fire Eye” testing labs.
Chinese Ambassador Chen said that Serbia and China are fighting the coronavirus side by side, and “China is the first country in the world to promise that its vaccine will be a global public good.”
“The Sinopharm vaccine was officially registered in China on December 30, and it arrived in Serbia only after 16 days. The arrival of the Chinese vaccine is part of our joint fight against the virus, and I believe it will contribute to fighting the epidemic in Serbia,” Chen said.
(With input from Xinhua)
Foreign news
NTAC Hails Tinubu; Volunteers Ready to Positively Impact Nigerians
Joel Ajayi
The Nigerian Technical Aid Corps (NTAC) has commended President Bola Tinubu for funding the Technical Aid Corps (TAC) Scheme.
The Director General (DG) of NTAC , Dr Yusuf Yakub, made the commendation during a ceremony to receive five returning TAC volunteers from Zanzibar, Tanzania on Tuesday in Abuja.
The returning volunteers also expressed readiness to impact knowledge gained from participating in the programme on Nigerians.
TAC is a mechanism for Nigeria’s foreign aid and technical assistance to African, Caribbean and Pacific countries through the use of Nigeria’s abundant trained manpower.
Yakub lauded Tinubu’s visionary leadership and steadfast support for the TAC Scheme.
Welcoming the volunteers who had discharged themselves as worthy ambassadors in Zanzibar, the D-G thanked them for their patriotism, dedication to service and for making Nigeria proud on the international arena.
The NTAC boss highlighted the importance of knowledge-sharing, while announcing that certificates of completion will be presented to the volunteers in line with the noble objectives of the service.
He also emphasised the volunteers’ crucial role in passing on the skills and experiences gained in Zanzibar.
He expressed optimism that their efforts would positively impact the lives of Nigerians across the country and shape the expectations and service-delivery of future prospective volunteers.
Earlier speaking, Amb. Zakari Usman, the Director of Programmes for NTAC, expressed gratitude to the D-G for his unwavering support and provision for the volunteers throughout their service period.
He said that the volunteers had so delivered on the mandate of the agency that citizens of Zanzibar did not want them to leave their country.
Popoola Adegoke, the Team Lead and a Mathematics Instructor for the batch of returning volunteers, was full of gratitude to the Federal Government for providing them the opportunity to participate in the scheme.
Adegoke said that Nigeria, was well blessed and had the abundance of both human and natural resources to contribute meaningfully to the development of many countries of the world.
He said that the need to continue the TAC Scheme was not negotiable, owing to its high impact and results.
Mohammed Salisu, a Physicist, said that the experience had broadened his horizon as his orientation during the last 24 months in Zanzibar, especially on the cultural exchange.
He lauded the government for the scheme, saying that Nigeria is seen and perceived to be higher in all ranking, especially in the standard of living and educational system.
He also appealed to the government to sustain the scheme to close the gaps both the educational and professional systems in the African, Caribbean and the Pacific Countries.
NAN
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