China has officially joined the COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access (COVAX) and pledged to provide 10 million doses of vaccines to the group, mainly to meet the urgent need in developing countries.
COVAX is a global initiative aimed at equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines led by the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization, the World Health Organization (WHO), and others.
In a statement shared by the Chinese Embassy in Zimbabwe on its social media channels, China said it hopes that the WHO will expedite the authorization for use of Chinese vaccines. It said in the statement:
China has officially joined COVAX and is in close communication with the WHO and other sponsors of the plan, working together to make vaccines a global public good and make them more accessible and affordable to developing countries.
We attach great importance to Director-General Tedros’ call to vaccinate priority populations in all nations within the first 100 days of this year.
We also attach great importance to the difficulties facing the practical implementation of COVAX, in particular the huge vaccine supply gap in February and March.
At the request of the WHO, China has decided to provide 10 million doses of vaccines to COVAX, mainly to meet the urgent need in developing countries.
This is another important measure taken by China to promote equitable distribution of vaccines, advance international cooperation in fighting the pandemic, and apply the vision of a community of common health for mankind.
The WHO has started to review emergency use authorization for Chinese vaccines. The Chinese companies involved will continue to offer their close coordination. We hope that the WHO will finish the review process as soon as possible.
We hope that countries, with the capacity to do so, will take actions to actively support COVAX and the work of the WHO, help developing countries access vaccines in a timely manner, and make their due contributions to mankind’s early victory over the pandemic.
