World Insights: China walks its talk in global vaccine cooperation

BEIJING -- Nearly 10 days have passed after global COVID-19 cases surpassed 100 million. While the number is still climbing and new strains of the coronavirus are running wild, China has been busy creating a global safety net through solid vaccine cooperation.

As a strong supporter of the World Health Organization (WHO)'s appeal to make COVID-19 vaccines a public good, China decided on Wednesday to provide vaccine doses to COVAX, the WHO-led initiative for equitable global access to coronavirus vaccines, to meet the urgent vaccination needs of developing countries.

VACCINATIONS ON TRACK

Cambodian Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen said on Friday that an inoculation drive against COVID-19 will start from Feb. 10 after the first batch of China-donated Sinopharm vaccines is due to arrive in the kingdom on Sunday.

The Southeast Asian country officially approved the emergency use of China's Sinopharm vaccine on Thursday.

Pakistan formally started the drive to administer the Sinopharm vaccine doses to its frontline healthcare workers on Wednesday, the Pakistani National Command and Operation Center said.

Zimbabwe will be among the first African countries to receive the COVID-19 vaccine from China, said Chinese Ambassador to Zimbabwe Guo Shaochun on Tuesday.

Though on track now, to some extent, COVID-19 vaccination in many developing countries was far from easy only a month ago.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus once said that global vaccine sharing was a "catastrophic moral failure," referring to a huge gap between the amount of shots administered in developed countries and that in the developing world.

In January, the comparison between administered doses in higher-income countries and one of the lowest-income countries had been 39 million versus 25, said the WHO chief in an executive board session. "Not 25 million, not 25,000, just 25."

With its willingness to make a difference in vaccination disparity on a global scale, China is providing COVID-19 vaccines to developing countries including Brunei, Nepal, the Philippines, Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos, Sri Lanka, Mongolia, Palestine, Belarus, Sierra Leone, Zimbabwe and Equatorial Guinea, said Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Wang Wenbin at a press conference Monday.

ACTIONS BUILD TRUST

China officially joined COVAX in October 2020 and maintained close communication with the WHO, vowing to make joint efforts to turn COVID-19 vaccines into global public goods.

"We hope that capable countries in the international community can play an active role and take concrete actions to support COVAX as well as the WHO's work, so as to help developing countries receive vaccines in time and contribute to the global defeat of the pandemic at an early date," said Wang.

Thanks to its commitment and actions to make COVID-19 vaccines more accessible and affordable, China has gained trust in the global combat against the virus, especially in vaccine cooperation.

In a livestream, Indonesian President Joko Widodo on Jan. 13 received his first shot of the COVID-19 vaccine developed by Chinese company Sinovac Biotech, kicking off the nation's mass inoculation campaign.

On Jan. 19, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte also expressed willingness to receive the Chinese-made vaccine shots through his spokesperson, saying the Chinese vaccines are "safe, sure, and secure."

When China's Sinopharm coronavirus vaccines arrived at the Belgrade Airport in mid-January, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic was there to welcome the shipment. "As an ordinary person and the president of Serbia, I am convinced of the quality of the Chinese vaccine," he said.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Tuesday that coronavirus vaccines from China and Russia could be approved for use in the European Union (EU) once they pass the EU tests, AFP reported.

If Chinese producers "show all the data... then they could get... a conditional market authorization like the other ones," von der Leyen told EU lawmakers at a meeting.