Mozambique is expected to receive its first COVID-19 vaccines later on Wednesday, from China's state-owned Sinopharm, according to a statement released by the Office of the Prime Minister, Carlos Agostinho do Rosário.

The donation of 200,000 doses is due to arrive at an airbase in the capital Maputo.

Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi said he had been in contact with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping over the last two months to secure the doses.

The vaccines will be administered to health workers who have been at the frontline of fighting the pandemic, the government said.

The vaccines come following a delay of the anticipated delivery of more than two million doses of vaccines through the World Health Organization-backed COVAX program until May, the state-owned Jornal Noticias newspaper reported.

Noticias, which quoted Benigna Matsinhe, the deputy national director of public health, also reported Mozambique is preparing a national vaccination plan, and assessing the approval and acquisition of vaccines from Sinovac, Johnson & Johnson, and Oxford-AstraZeneca.

Mozambique's neighbour, Zimbabwe, also received a donation of COVID-19 vaccines from China earlier this month.

(With input from agencies)