TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) – China on Wednesday announced a plan to provide 10 million doses of coronavirus vaccine to developing nations through the global COVAX initiative as part of its ambitious diplomatic and commercial efforts to distribute Chinese vaccines. all around the world.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said China is responding to a request from the World Health Organization, while developing countries are seeking to make up for the shortage expected to last until March. He did not give details about which vaccine China was supplying COVAX, or whether it was a donation.
China has already shipped a large number of doses of its own vaccines, mainly to developing countries. It has made agreements or donations with more than 30 nations, far exceeding the 10 million doses it is supplying COVAX. In Turkey alone, Chinese company Sinovac Biotech Ltd. struck a deal to sell 50 million doses.
Its global efforts are seen by many as an attempt to boost China’s reputation as it seeks to repair its image after the first cases of coronavirus were detected in the Chinese city of Wuhan in late 2019. In the beginning, during the pandemic, China donated face masks and protective gear to countries around the world as part of a diplomatic boost. He called the virus a mutual challenge for humanity and even suggested that it may have been brought in from outside the country.
She agreed to join COVAX, coordinated by the World Health Organization and GAVI, the Vaccine Alliance, last October, especially when the United States, under then President Donald Trump, refused to join.
COVAX seeks to ensure that low- and middle-income countries have sufficient vaccines, as wealthy nations have snapped up a large portion of the billions of future doses from vaccine manufacturers, mainly Westerners.
“We hope that the countries of the international community with capacity will take action, support COVAX through practical actions, support the work of the World Health Organization, help developing countries obtain vaccines in a timely manner and contribute to … winning the pandemic at an early date, “Wang said at a daily briefing.
WHO is in the process of approving Chinese vaccines for emergency use, he added.
So far, COVAX has guaranteed only a fraction of the 2 billion doses it expected to buy in 2021. Pfizer last month committed to providing up to 40 million doses of its COVID-19 vaccine this year through COVAX. The facility also has 150 million doses of the vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University.
Two Chinese companies, the state-owned Sinopharm and Sinovac, are behind much of the effort to take Chinese vaccines abroad, which largely happened outside the COVAX structure. Both companies’ vaccines are inactivated, relying on traditional technology for the growth and elimination of live viruses. The virus is then purified before being administered by injection.
Inactivated vaccines appear to be less effective than more modern mRNA vaccines. However, they are easier to transport than Pfizer’s mRNA vaccine, which requires ultracold storage, a challenge for many low-income countries.
Only one vaccine, manufactured by Sinopharm, has been approved for general use in China. Both, however, have gained emergency or broader approvals in other countries and are being used actively in mass vaccination campaigns from the UAE to Indonesia.
Vaccines have been criticized for the lack of transparency in data from the final phase of clinical trials. Sinopharm said its vaccine is 79.3% effective. The Sinovac injection, in particular, raised concerns after initially announcing a 78% efficacy rate for protection against symptomatic diseases, but after counting the mild cases, it announced that the efficacy is just over 50%, based on its testing in Brazil.
Originally published