Chinese vaccines help humankind build ‘Great Wall of Immunity’ against COVID-19

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Chinese vaccines help humankind build ‘Great Wall of Immunity’ against COVID-19

By Yu Yichun, Zhou Zhou, Wang Xinping (People's Daily) 08:16, January 20, 2022

The first meeting of the International Forum on COVID-19 Vaccine Cooperation is held via video link on Aug. 5, 2021. Chinese President Xi Jinping addressed the meeting, which was hosted by Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi, in a written form. (Photo courtesy of China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs)

Since the outbreak of COVID-19, China has never stopped working together with the rest of the world to fight against the pandemic and weather the trying times.

Convinced that vaccines are a powerful weapon to prevail over the pandemic and revive the economy, the country has so far provided over two billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines for over 120 countries and international organizations, which account for one-third of the total number of doses administered outside China, becoming the biggest provider of outbound vaccines among all countries in the world.

China was among the first to commit to making COVID-19 vaccines a global public good, to support waiving intellectual property rights on the vaccines, and to start joint production of vaccines with other developing countries.

The country has always adhered to the vision of building a community of common health for mankind and joined hands with various parties to improve the availability and affordability of vaccines in developing countries, helping address the global vaccine “distribution deficit” and close the “immunity gap”.

I. China proposes Global Vaccine Cooperation Action Initiative to promote global solidarity against the pandemic

Over 300 million people have been diagnosed with COVID-19, among whom more than 5 million lost their lives; only 5 percent of the population in low-income countries are fully vaccinated against the coronavirus. The COVID-19 epidemic that is wreaking havoc across the world has deeply changed the human society.

Amid the major public health crisis, Chinese President Xi Jinping has actively promoted international anti-epidemic cooperation during important diplomatic events he chaired or attended via video link and his meetings and phone conversations with foreign leaders and heads of international organizations, enhancing global solidarity for fighting the pandemic.

“COVID-19 vaccine development and deployment in China, when available, will be made a global public good. This will be China’s contribution to ensuring vaccine accessibility and affordability in developing countries,” Xi solemnly promised at the opening of the 73rd session of the World Health Assembly in May 2020.

“At the moment, several COVID-19 vaccines developed by China are in Phase III clinical trials. When their development is completed and they are available for use, these vaccines will be made a global public good, and they will be provided to other developing countries on a priority basis,” he said at the General Debate of the 75th Session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) held in September 2020.

In May 2021, the Chinese leader announced at the Global Health Summit five measures taken by China to continuously support global solidarity against COVID-19. China supports its vaccine companies in transferring technologies to other developing countries and carrying out joint production with them, and the country, which has already announced support for waiving intellectual property rights on COVID-19 vaccines, also supports the World Trade Organization (WTO) and other international institutions in making an early decision on this matter, he pointed out.

At Session I of the 16th G20 Leaders’ Summit held in October 2021, Xi proposed a Global Vaccine Cooperation Action Initiative, which includes supporting vaccine companies in conducting joint R&D and production with developing countries, providing more vaccines for developing countries to meet the global vaccination target for 2022 as set by the World Health Organization (WHO), supporting the WTO in making an early decision on waiving intellectual property rights on COVID-19 vaccines, scaling up cross-border trade cooperation to ensure smooth trade in vaccines and related raw and auxiliary materials, advancing mutual recognition of vaccines in accordance with the WHO’s Emergency Use Listing (EUL) as well as providing financial support for global vaccine cooperation, especially for developing countries to access vaccines.

China’s proposals are never empty promises. These are always turned into concrete actions.

The country ranks top in the world in terms of the speed of vaccine R&D and the number of vaccines developed. Its two inactivated COVID-19 vaccines have been included in the EUL and the COVAX procurement list.

Batches of Chinese vaccines have traveled a long journey to other countries, infusing confidence and strength into global solidarity against COVID-19.