(3 minutes read)
· China yesterday (Thursday) called on the international community to increase its assistance in COVID-19 vaccine distribution in Africa
· The appeal comes close on the heels of a pledge by heads of state to allow Africa to lift patents to create an ecosystem for the continent to produce its own vaccines
· China said unlike some countries that have said they have to wait for their own people to finish vaccination before they could supply the vaccines to foreign countries, it feels that it is necessary to ensure that the Chinese people get vaccinated as soon as possible, but at the same time vaccine should be made available to other countries also
China yesterday (Thursday) called on the international community to increase its assistance in COVID-19 vaccine distribution in Africa. The appeal comes close on the heels of a pledge by heads of state to allow Africa to lift patents to create an ecosystem for the continent to produce its own vaccines.
China said unlike some countries that have said they have to wait for their own people to finish vaccination before they could supply the vaccines to foreign countries, it feels that it is necessary to ensure that the Chinese people get vaccinated as soon as possible, but at the same time vaccine should be made available to other countries also. Africa, so far, has registered 3.4 million coronavirus cases and more than 85,000 deaths.
Chinese officials also stressed that it was crucial to start the manufacturing of Covid 19 vaccines on the African continent since sourcing it from outside alone cannot solve the vaccine issue of Africa. For that, the local manufacturing should be promoted. But most of the countries do not have infrastructure to support manufacturing of the vaccines. But countries like Egypt and South Africa, where there is an ecosystem to support vaccine manufacturing, it should be promoted.
He also revealed that in Egypt, China would start with the packing of the Chinese vaccine, which will promote the global vaccine supply capability. Later, China, will start locally producing COVID-19 vaccine in June in Egypt- Sinovac – enabling the Egyptian side to obtain the expertise and technical assistance to produce the vaccine, giving the license to manufacture and pack the vaccine in Egypt.
