China to send another 1bn COVID vaccines to Africa

CHINA: China will supply another one billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines to African countries, President Xi Jinping announced at the all-virtual Davos forum on Monday, adding that 150 million vaccine doses will donated to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries.

Of the one billion vaccines that it will send to Africa, 600 million will be donated, Xi said. This is in addition to the more than one billion doses that China promised and supplied to Africa last year.

“China is a country that delivers on its promises. China has already sent over two billion doses of vaccines to more than 120 countries and international organisations,” the Chinese President said at the World Economic Forum via video link on Monday, the third time the Chinese leader has addressed the event.

“Still, China will provide another one billion doses to African countries, including 600 million doses as donation, and will also donate 150 million doses to ASEAN countries,” he said. Xi had announced in November that China will deliver one billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines to Africa, after already having supplied nearly 200 million doses to the country. Xi reiterated that cooperation is “the only right way” to defeat the pandemic, while holding each other back or shifting blame “would only cause needless delay in response” and “distract us from the overall objective”.

“Holding each other back or shifting blame would only cause needless delay in response and distract us from the overall objective,” he said.

“As changes of the times combine with the once-in-a-century pandemic, the world finds itself in a new period of turbulence and transformation,” Xi said. According to official data, by the end of last year, China had provided the international community with about 372 billion masks, more than 4.2 billion protective suits, 8.4 billion testing reagents, and more than 2 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines to more than 120 countries and international organisations. China has provided the most vaccines worldwide, a government spokesperson said on Monday.