China pledges 2 billion vaccines globally through year’s end

BEIJING – President Xi Jinping pledged that China will supply a total of 2 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines to other countries through this year, increasing its commitment as the largest exporter of the shots.

Xi´s announcement was delivered at the International Forum on COVID-19 Vaccine Cooperation, AP reported.

That figure likely includes the 770 million doses China has already donated or exported since September last year, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Most of the Chinese shots have been exported under bilateral deals. It is unclear if the figure also includes agreements with the UN-backed COVAX programme in which two Chinese vaccine manufacturers will provide up to 550 million doses.

Xi also promised to donate $100 million to the COVAX programme, which aims to distribute vaccines to low- and middle-income countries, the official Xinhua News Agency reported.

Hundreds of millions of Chinese shots, the vast majority of which are from Sinopharm and Sinovac, have already been administered to people in many countries across the world.

However, there are concerns about whether they protect adequately against the new, highly transmissible delta variant.

The two traditional-style Chinese vaccines, which both use inactivated viruses, have shown lower effectiveness against the delta variant but still provide some protection, according to Feng Zijian, an official at China’s Center for Disease Control, who spoke to state broadcaster CCTV in June.

Most of the more than 1.7 billion vaccine doses that have been administered inside China are from Sinopharm and Sinovac.

Sinovac published a study online in July, which has yet to be peer-reviewed, that showed a third booster shot given at least six months after the second shot could greatly increase antibody levels.

The company has submitted clinical research data to regulators for emergency use approval for new variations of its CoronaVac shot designed for the newer delta and gamma variants, CEO Yin Weidong announced at the vaccine forum, which China hosted virtually.