Zimbabwe is among the first 14 developing countries that will benefit from the Chinese made COVID-19 Vaccine in an effort to contain the virus.
The coronavirus which originated in China has claimed more than 1000 lives of Zimbabweans with more than 33 000 cases being recorded in the country to date.
The government has in the past few weeks hinted that a vaccine is on the way and clear indications are that Zimbabwe, together with 13 other countries,s will be the first to take the jabs.
Three vaccines are currently far along in development in China. They are the vaccines from the companies Sinopharm, Sinovac Biotech and CanSino.
Only partial data on the efficacy of the vaccines have been released from their respective phase II and III trials. Sinopharm was the first company to officially announce data at the turn of 2020.
In a statement by Wang Wenbin, spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China, developing countries like Sierra Leone, Palestine, Belarus, and Myanmar will also receive the vaccine ahead of other developing countries together with Zimbabwe.
Below is the full statement.
“China has been acting through concrete actions on President Xi Jinping’s solemn commitment of making COVID-19 vaccines, developed and deployed in China, a global public good, thus contributing to greater accessibility and affordability of vaccines in developing countries. That’s what we’ve been saying and what we’ve been doing.
First, apart from Pakistan, China is also providing vaccine aid to Brunei, Nepal, the Philippines, Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos, Sri Lanka, Mongolia, Palestine, Belarus, Sierra Leon, Zimbabwe and Equatorial Guinea, altogether 13 developing countries. Going forward, we will also assist another 38 developing countries with vaccines. We also take an active part in the WHO-led COVAX and provide vaccines through this platform to developing countries.
Second, China supports Chinese companies in conducting joint vaccine R&D and production with foreign partners. Vaccines made by Sinopharm and Sinovac have been exported to countries including the UAE, Morocco, Indonesia, Turkey, Brazil and Chile where clinical studies have been conducted out.
Third, China supports relevant companies in exporting vaccines to countries in urgent need that have approved Chinese vaccines and authorized their emergency use. For instance, Serbia has started vaccination with recently imported China-made vaccines. More and more countries are approving the use of Chinese vaccines.
The whole world needs to pull together in order to defeat the pandemic. China will continue to provide in a timely manner, to the best of its capability, vaccines to relevant countries, especially the developing countries, and contribute its share to building a community of health for all mankind. We also hope the international community will work together to promote the equitable allocation and use of vaccines globally to make sure developing countries have access to and can afford them.
