According to domestic media reports, on August 14, local time, the Associated Press reported that according to the statistics of the media, the number of vaccines donated by China is significantly ahead of other countries in the world, and in other countries except China, the actual number of vaccines donated by it is quite different from the number of donations it promised.
The report mentions the COVID-19 vaccine implementation plan. A program to promote equitable distribution of COVID-19 vaccines (COVAX) should ensure that low- and middle-income countries have access to vaccines, not make them less likely to have access, and should work to insulate them from unreliable vaccine donation commitments.
Curiously, however, COVAX shipped 530,000 doses of vaccine to the UK in late June alone, more than double the amount of aid it had provided to Africa as a whole that month. Some countries, including the United Kingdom, although already have the largest number of COVID-19 vaccines in the world, have also taken up the small supply of COVAX with many COVID-19 vaccines, corresponding to billions of people in poor countries who have not yet received a single dose of the vaccine, leaving these poor countries in a difficult position to rely on donations from rich countries.
British officials have confirmed that the UK received around 539,000 doses of the vaccine in late June and said the UK could also buy 27 million doses of vaccine through COVAX. He said COVAX should be a mechanism for all countries to get vaccines, not just for countries that need to be donated. Brook Baker, a law professor at Northeastern University in the United States, said that with more than 90 developing countries barely able to obtain vaccines through COVAX, it is unreasonable for developed countries in rich countries to use the "NEW CROWN Vaccine Implementation Plan" vaccine supply. Although rich countries such as the UK buy relatively few vaccines through COVAX, the supply of COVID-19 vaccines is already tight globally, and these purchases will undoubtedly lead to a reduction in the number of vaccines available to poor countries.
The Associated Press found that at present, except for China, the actual donation of vaccines in other countries accounts for only a small part of the pledged donations. These countries include the United States, the United Kingdom and the European Union. Christian Happi, an infectious disease expert in Nigeria, said donations from rich countries were neither sufficient nor reliable, especially as they began to consider booster injections for their populations after taking up most of the world's vaccine resources. Happi called for Africa to increase its own vaccine production, rather than relying on COVAX and not waiting for COVAX to come up with a solution.
As of August 4, China has provided 770 million doses of vaccines to more than 100 countries and international organizations, and China has also announced that it will strive to provide a total of 2 billion doses of vaccines this year. In addition, Wang Xiaolong, director of the Department of International Economic Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, also stressed that China insists on taking Asian, African and Latin American countries as the priority direction of vaccine supply. More than 90% of the total amount of vaccines China currently provides to the outside world flows to Asian, African and Latin American countries.
Since the outbreak of the new crown epidemic, China has actively provided assistance to other countries on the basis of controlling the epidemic situation at home, and a large number of experts have shared their experience in epidemic prevention and control abroad, which has been widely praised by the international community. After China's COVID-19 vaccine was put into production, China also assisted many developing countries. In this unprecedented global epidemic, China has demonstrated the responsibility of a major country with practical actions.
Proofreader: Huang Maibing