China provides vaccine aid to 53 developing countries, exports to 22

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China provides vaccine aid to 53 developing countries, exports to 22
By Leng Shumei
Published: Feb 08, 2021 04:41 PM

China is providing vaccine aid to 53 developing countries and exporting vaccines to 22 countries, including those in Africa which lags behind in inoculation.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said at a press conference on Monday that a shipment of Chinese COVID-19 vaccines will leave for Equatorial Guinea on Tuesday.

The Global Times learned from Chinese vaccine producer Sinovac on Monday that the company had delivered more than 10 million doses to countries in Asia, the Mediterranean, Latin America and Africa.

China has also decided to provide Egypt and the Arab League with batches of COVID-19 vaccines, and is willing to facilitate Egypt's procurement of vaccines produced by Chinese companies, said Chinese Ambassador to Egypt Liao Liqiang on Sunday at an online press conference.

The move reflects the profound friendship between the heads of state of China and Egypt and the sincere feelings of the Chinese people toward the Egyptian people, and will help Egypt overcome the pandemic at an early date, the Chinese envoy said.

The moves came amid reports of South African health officials' announcement on Sunday of pausing the country's rollout of AstraZeneca's coronavirus vaccine after a study showed it offered reduced protection against the COVID-19 variant first identified there.

"I have been expecting a low efficacy of AstraZeneca's vaccine on the variant in South Africa due to previous results of Pfizer and Moderna on the variant, but have not thought it could be so low, nearly useless," Zhuang Shilihe, a Guangzhou-based vaccine expert, told the Global Times on Monday.

Nineteen of the 748 people in AstraZeneca's clinical trials in South Africa were infected with the new variant, compared to 20 out of 714 people in the group who were given a placebo, according to media reports.

Other world-leading vaccines producers, Pfizer, Moderna, Novavax and Johnson & Johnson, have also said that studies showed their COVID-19 vaccines were less effective in South Africa than in the US.

Considering the low efficacy, Zhuang called for global vaccine makers to adjust their vaccines to the new variant in South Africa immediately before it spreads more widely in the world.

"mRNA vaccines may require 2-3 weeks to adjust coding. Inactivated vaccines may take longer than two months as vaccines makers have to cultivate new virus of the new variants, but as far as I know Chinese vaccine makers are able to adjust in a shorter period," Zhuang said.

The variant in South Africa accounts for about 90 percent of infections in that country and is powering record case numbers in the sub-region. It has been found in Botswana, Ghana, Kenya, Comoros, Zambia and in 24 non-African nations.

Gao Fu, director of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said at a previous conference that China's inactivated and recombinant protein vaccines are still effective on the variant in South Africa as serum antibody tests showed that efficacy against the variant only decreased by 1.6 times.

The data is not bad compared to the performance of AstraZeneca's vaccine, but as it is only the result of a neutralization test of serum antibody, it still requires clinical trials to determine the accurate efficacy of Chinese vaccines on the new variant, Zhuang said.

China provides vaccine aid to 53 developing countries, exports to 22 - Global Times

www.globaltimes.cn

 

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More countries turn to Chinese COVID-19 vaccines
Updated 18:58, 16-Feb-2021
CGTN

The first shipment of 200,000 doses China-provided COVID-19 vaccine arrived at the Robert Mugabe International Airport, Harare, Zimbabwe, February 15, 2021. /CFP
A growing number of countries across the world have turned to Chinese COVID-19 vaccines as Western vaccine makers' production and delivery hiccups hamper the fight against the pandemic in many countries.

CGTN Infographic
Eastern Europe
As Hungary joined Serbia in spearheading mass inoculation with China's Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine in Europe, other European countries are struggling against a vaccine delivery crisis and exploring a way out of lockdown and into economic recovery.
In around a month, 14 percent of Serbia's 6.5 million population received their first doses of vaccine against COVID-19, thanks to the 1.5 million Chinese-made doses.
Following its neighbor, Hungary on January 31 announced that it has reached a deal with Sinopharm, which will enable a mass immunization of 2.5 million people.
As the first shipment is supposed to arrive next week, Hungary is bound to become the first European Union (EU) member to sign up for Chinese vaccines.
"This deal will speed up vaccination, which could save the lives of thousands of people and contribute to lifting restrictions sooner," said Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto.
Also on January 31, German Health Minister Jens Spahn said he is "open" to the use of vaccines from Russia or China in Germany, while Markus Soeder, minister-president of the German state of Bavaria, called on the European supervision body to test Russian and Chinese vaccines "as soon as possible."
A shipment of Sinopharm vaccines will arrive in Bosnia and Herzegovina soon too, as one of its two entities, Republika Srpska (RS), ordered them on February 8, Minister of Health and Social Welfare of RS Alen Seranic told Xinhua.
RS institutions have been following all the scientific effects and references of vaccines from all producers, including Chinese ones, and the efficacy, quality, and safety of vaccines are the three criteria that all vaccines entering RS must fulfill, said Seranic.
Earlier this month, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron expressed openness of their countries to any vaccines approved by the European Medicines Agency (EMA), which has so far only given green light to vaccines of Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna and AstraZeneca.
The shortage of approved vaccines in Europe has been drawing increasing public criticism and prompting demands for alternative solutions.
Asia
Pakistan has become the first country to receive China's vaccine aid after a batch of doses developed by Sinopharm arrived in the country on February 2.
With over half a million infections and more than 11,000 deaths, the South Asian country is struggling against the second wave of the deadly virus.
In addition to Pakistan, China is providing COVID-19 vaccines to 13 developing countries including Brunei, Nepal, the Philippines, Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos, Sri Lanka, Mongolia, and Palestine in Asia.
From Jakarta to Manila and Kuala Lumpur, more Asian countries are putting their trust in China as they receive, order, or give the green light to the emergency use of Chinese vaccines.
Africa
The first shipment of 200,000 doses of China-provided COVID-19 vaccine arrived in Zimbabwe's capital Harare on Monday morning. The vaccines will cover all frontline health workers firstly, and the excess will be extended to vulnerable groups such as the elderly and those with underlying medical conditions, according to Zimbabwe's vaccine deployment strategy.
Zimbabwean Vice President Constantino Chiwenga, together with Chinese Ambassador to Zimbabwe Guo Shaochun, attended the handover ceremony at the airport.
The country is among the first three African countries to receive the COVID-19 vaccine donations from China, as Equatorial Guinea has received its vaccines on Wednesday, while Sierra Leone is expecting vaccines from the Asian country later in February.
Apart from donations, China has also signed deals with countries like Egypt and Morocco to export the COVID-19 vaccines. In late January, the first shipment of Sinopharm's vaccines arrived at Casablanca airport, Morocco, ready for the country's mass vaccination campaign in the coming days.
Latin America
In countries like Brazil, Mexico, Chile and Peru, Chinese vaccines also become a much-needed shot for people at a time when a second wave of coronavirus outbreaks has ravaged the region.
Both Chile's President Sebastian Pinera and Peru's President Francisco Sagasti received their first shots this month as the two countries launched their first stage of national vaccination campaigns using Chinese vaccines.
Presidents have chosen to take the lead while sending a message of confidence to the public regarding the vaccine inoculations. "I want to tell all my compatriots that this vaccine is safe, it is effective, and we have made an enormous effort to be able to vaccinate all Chileans," Pinera told reporters at a press conference.
Mexico has granted emergency use approval to COVID-19 vaccines developed by China's Sinovac and CanSino Biologics. Officials in Latin America's second-largest economy are hoping to source millions of doses from China to boost their vaccination efforts.

CGTN Infographic
Fifteen COVID-19 vaccines developed by Chinese companies are at various trial stages in more than a dozen countries, including the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Brazil, Pakistan and Peru. Public health experts are closely monitoring five of these candidate vaccines, which are in the final stage of clinical trials.

More countries turn to Chinese COVID-19 vaccines

A growing number of countries across the world have turned to Chinese COVID-19 vaccines as Western vaccine makers' production and delivery hiccups hamper the fight against the pandemic in many countries.

news.cgtn.com

 

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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (left) receives a dose of COVID-19 vaccine at a hospital in Ankara, Turkey, on Jan 14, 2021. [Photo/Xinhua]

 

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Dubai's ruler and UAE Vice President Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum receiving an experimental Covid-19 vaccine, 2 November 2020 (AFP)

 

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Indonesian President Joko Widodo receives the COVID-19 vaccine shot developed by China's biopharmaceutical company Sinovac Biotech at Presidential Palace in Jakarta, Indonesia, Jan 13, 2021.

 

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Seychelles' President Wavel Ramkalawan receives a shot of the Sinovac's CoronaVac coronavirus disease vaccine at a hospital in the capital Victoria

 

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Bahrain's Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa volunteers in the phase lll clinical trial of the Chinese coronavirus disease vaccine in Manama, Bahrain,

 

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Chilean President Sebastian Pinera receives the COVID-19 vaccine developed by Chinese firm Sinovac at a health center in Futrono, a city in the southern region of Los Rios, Chile, Feb. 12, 2021

 

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Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, president of Equatorial Guinea, on Monday received his first dose of a Chinese COVID-19 vaccine developed by Chinese pharmaceutical firm Sinopharm, according to the official website of the country's ruling Democratic Party.

 

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Peru's president first to receive dose of Chinese Sinopharm vaccine​