Topline
China has promised to donate 600 million doses of its Covid-19 vaccine to African nations, a move that comes at a time when the new omicron variant of the coronavirus continues to spread in the southern part of the continent and amid concerns about the lack of equitable vaccine access to poorer nations.
Chinese President Xi Jinping (on the screen) delivers his speech during the China-Africa Cooperation ... [+]
Key Facts
The vaccine supply pledge was made by Chinese President Xi Jinping during a virtual address during the opening ceremony of a China-Africa forum in Senegal on Monday.
In total, Xi promised 1 billion doses of Chinese developed Covid-19 vaccines to African nations, with the other 400 million doses being offered through means like local production by Chinese companies in Africa.
Xi noted that Monday’s pledge will be on top of the 200 million vaccine doses that China has already delivered to the continent.
China will also send 1,500 health experts to Africa.
Crucial Quote
Like U.S. President Joe Biden, Xi also threw his support behind intellectual property waivers for Covid-19 vaccines stating: “We need to put people and their lives first, be guided by science, support waiving intellectual property rights on COVID-19 vaccines, and truly ensure the accessibility and affordability of vaccines in Africa to bridge the immunization gap.”
Big Number
5.8%. That’s the percentage of people in low-income countries who have received at least one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine, according to Our World In Data. In comparison, more than 70% of people in high-income and upper-middle-income countries have received at least one dose.
Key Background
China’s promise of supplying a billion doses of Covid-19 vaccines to Africa comes at a time when health experts around the world have criticized wealthy nations for failing to offer equitable access to vaccines to people in poorer nations. The criticism comes amid the emergence of a new coronavirus variant that was first detected by South African officials. Although details about the Omicron variant remain scarce there are concerns that it may be more infectious than existing variants while blunting the effectiveness of existing vaccines.
Tangent
Since the start of this year China has wielded its locally developed vaccines as a key soft power tool, by offering it to several nations around the world while western nations were being accused of hoarding supplies. In September, China’s foreign ministry announced that it had delivered 1.1 billion vaccine doses to more than 100 countries. However, reports suggest that the effectiveness of this “vaccine diplomacy” appears to be wavering amid concern about the efficacy of Chinese vaccines and wider availability of western-developed mRNA vaccines. Earlier this month U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited Kenya, Nigeria and Senegal where he discussed boosting local production of vaccines in Africa. Earlier in October, President Joe Biden had announced the donation of 17 million single dose Johnson & Johnson vaccines to the African Union.
Further Reading
China to donate 600 million COVID-19 vaccine doses to Africa (Associated Press)
China Vaccine Diplomacy Wavers as Nations Seek Western Shots (Bloomberg)
