1 million doses of China's Sinovac vaccine arrive in El Salvador

An aircraft carrying doses of COVID-19 vaccine produced by Chinese pharmaceutical company Sinovac Biotech arrives in El Salvador, March 28, 2021. /Press Secretariat of the Presidency of the Republic of El Salvador

A total of one million doses of COVID-19 vaccine produced by Chinese pharmaceutical company Sinovac Biotech arrived in El Salvador on Sunday.

Officials from both countries, including El Salvador's Health Minister Francisco Alabi and China's Ambassador to El Salvador Ou Jianhong, welcomed the shipment at the airport.

"This vaccine has been used internationally, in countries that are showing favorable results: in Chile, Brazil and Turkey," the minister said at the airport, adding the country is expecting another shipment of one million doses of Sinovac's vaccine.

An aircraft carrying doses of COVID-19 vaccine produced by Chinese pharmaceutical company Sinovac Biotech arrives in El Salvador, March 28, 2021. /Chinese Embassy in El Salvador

The doses will help El Salvador boost its immunization effort and extend shots to the elderly and people with chronic degenerative diseases in its national vaccination drive.

More than 70,000 people have been vaccinated to date in El Salvador.

The Central American country has recorded 63,766 infections and 1,998deaths, according to the latest data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.