China donates COVID-19 vaccines to countries in Africa, West Asia: media

Screenshot shows a news report published by Reuters on Feb. 4, 2021.

China has donated or is in the process of donating COVID-19 vaccines to Guinea, Syria, and Zimbabwe to help promote the fair distribution of COVID-19 vaccines across the world.

Guinea's foreign minister Ibrahima Khalil Kaba said on Feb. 3 that China will donate 200,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccine to Cuinea, according to a news report published on Feb. 4. Another news report published by Reuters on Feb. 4 said China to donate 150,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccines to Syria as aid. Zimbabwe President Emmerson Mnangagwa said in a televised address on Feb. 4 that China donated 200,000 doses of coronavirus vaccines to Zimbabwe, according to a news report published by Bloomberg on Feb. 5. The donation helps kick-start Zimbabwe's roll-out of vaccination, which will firstly inoculate health-care workers and those at highest risks with such vaccines as China's Sinopharm vaccine.

"We applaud China for contributing to our national vaccine deployment strategy," said Mnangagwa.

As the global epidemiological situation of COVID-19 is still complicated, several countries have started rolling out nationwide vaccination to curb the pandemic, but the access of COVID-19 vaccines to many other countries have still been restricted.

To help promote international cooperation on and fair distribution of vaccines, China has joined the WHO-led COVAX initiative and decided to offer 10 million vaccines, mainly to help meet the urgent needs of developing countries. China has exported or is in the process of exporting COVID-19 vaccines to 22 countries, said Wang Wenbin, spokesperson for the Chinese foreign ministry, at a daily press briefing on Feb. 8.