BEIJING: Chinese vaccines are gathering steam across the world, injecting strong impetus into the global fight against COVID-19 as deaths from the virus topped 4 million worldwide and variants spread to more than 100 countries.
As a steadfast advocate for equitable vaccine distribution around the globe, China has supplied 500 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines and concentrates to more than 100 countries and international organizations, accounting for one-sixth of the current global output.
China has provided more doses to developing countries than anyone else and has vaccine cooperation partners all over the globe, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Zhao Lijian said on Monday.
With the support of the Chinese government, Chinese vaccine companies have started joint production in many countries including the UAE, Indonesia, Malaysia, Egypt, Brazil, Turkey, Pakistan and Mexico, with producing capacity exceeding 200 million doses.
Two Chinese pharmaceutical companies, Sinopharm and Sinovac, will provide 110 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines immediately to participants of the COVAX project, announced the global Vaccine Alliance Gavi on Monday.
The Chinese Sinopharm and Sinovac vaccines were approved earlier this year by the World Health Organization (WHO) for emergency use.
“The Chinese government has been actively encouraging and supporting Chinese vaccine research and development companies to participate in the COVAX to provide vaccines to developing countries,” a diplomat with the Permanent Mission of China to the United Nations in Geneva said on Monday.
Two doses of the Sinopharm vaccine provide 84-percent protection from death caused by COVID-19, showed a report by the Argentine Ministry of Health based on cases from the country’s 24 provinces.
In February, Argentina authorized the emergency use of the Sinopharm vaccine after Health Minister Carla Vizzotti signed a resolution, an official measure which
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