China to provide 110m doses of COVID-19 vaccines to COVAX, signs long-term supply deal with WHO: Chinese FM

Staff members unload Chinese Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccines at Islamabad International Airport in Islamabad, capital of Pakistan, Aug. 11, 2021. The first batch of COVID-19 vaccine that China provided to the COVAX facility was officially handed over to Pakistan during a ceremony held here on Thursday. Early Wednesday morning, a batch of over 970,000 doses of Chinese Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine arrived at Islamabad International Airport. (Photo/Xinhua)

China will provide 110 million doses of Sinovac and Sinopharm COVID-19 shots to the pandemic program of the World Health Organization (WHO) by the end of October, and it will continue to provide vaccines to WHO in the long term as outlined in a deal recently reached by the two sides, said Wang Wenbin, a spokesperson of the Chinese Foreign Ministry, on Thursday.

China has always been actively engaged in the WHO's COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access (COVAX) program, and committed to promoting the accessibility and affordability of the shots in developing countries, Wang said.

A WHO document showed that the COVAX program plans to ship 100 million doses of the China-produced vaccines by the end of October, mostly to African and Asian countries, in its first delivery of Chinese vaccines, Reuters reported.

Responding to the report, Wang noted that the two Chinese companies, Sinopharm and Sinovac, negotiated with GAVI, the global vaccine alliance on the supply issue, in the first half of this year, after getting the WHO's approval for emergency use.

They were included in the procurement pool of the COVAX program this July, and will provide 110 million doses to the program by the end of October, which will be allocated to countries according to their needs, Wang said, adding that the two sides have reached an agreement on long-term vaccine supply and are now discussing details of subsequent shipments.

The first batch of some 9 million doses of Chinese vaccines provided to COVAX arrived in Pakistan and Bangladesh in early August, Wang said. Another 30 million doses will be shipped to Algeria, Cote d'Ivoire, Niger, Kyrgyzstan, Venezuela and other developing countries in the near future.

Sinovac, now as a partner of COVAX, said in a statement on Thursday that it has provided more than 1.8 billion shots of COVID-19 vaccines to the whole world.

"This is another practical move by China to fulfill its commitment to provide vaccines as global public goods and to promote the fair distribution of vaccines," Wang said, urging countries with such abilities to support the developing world and contribute more to the global fight against the pandemic.

China will provide 2 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines for the world and offer $100 million to COVAX throughout this year, Chinese President Xi Jinping said in early August in a written message to the first meeting of the international forum on COVID-19 vaccine cooperation.