Foreign Property News | Posted by Zarni Kyaw
China has officially signed an agreement to join the World Health Organization-led COVAX facility, a global COVID-19 vaccine project to ensure poorer countries have access to life-saving vaccines.
China is the biggest economy to back the initiative so far. Neither the United States nor Russia has signed up.
Foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said in a statement posted to Twitter that China’s decision was “an important step to uphold the concept of a shared community of health for all and to honour its commitment to turn COVID-19 vaccines into a global good”.
The COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access Facility (COVAX) is led by the World Health Organization (WHO), the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) and Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance and aims to deliver some two billion doses of vaccine around the world by the end of next year.
COVAX will pool financial and scientific resources and bring richer countries together with 92 low- and middle-income economies such as the Philippines and Indonesia, which are eligible for financial support for the procurement of vaccines through the Gavi COVAX Advance Market Commitment (AMC).
COVAX aims to develop at least three safe and effective vaccines that can be made available to those participating in the scheme.
The US has recorded the most cases and the most deaths but has not backed COVAX, instead securing supplies through bilateral deals.
Hundreds of thousands of people in China have already been injected with experimental vaccines, with at least three companies there in the final stages of clinical trials.
The government has said it may have a coronavirus vaccine available as early as next month and Hua said developing countries would be given priority.
Ref: Aljazeera
