Source: People's Daily
At present, the epidemic situation of the century and the changes of the past century are intertwined, and the international pattern has evolved profoundly. In the face of challenges, the BRICS countries have united to fight the epidemic, provided BRICS solutions for improving the global disease prevention and control system, and played a BRICS role in safeguarding global public health security.
Watch out for each other and work together to overcome difficulties
"The significance and value of partnership lies not only in the grand event of the CCP in favorable circumstances, but also in the hand-in-hand movement in times of adversity." President Xi Jinping's words illustrate the background of BRICS cooperation in jointly addressing global challenges. The epidemic has no borders, and all countries in the world are a community of common destiny. The COVID-19 pandemic has made the world more deeply appreciate the rich connotation and far-reaching significance of the concept of a community of common destiny.
At an important moment in China's fight against the epidemic, Russia, then chairman of the BRICS, issued a presidential statement expressing support for China's anti-epidemic efforts on behalf of the BRICS countries. Russian President Vladimir Putin, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, South African President Ramaphosa and Brazilian President Bolsonaro conveyed their condolences and support to the Chinese Government and people in different ways. Modi said that the Indian side has provided assistance to China in fighting the epidemic and is willing to cooperate in responding to the epidemic; The Russian government sent a special plane to transport medical relief materials to Wuhan, and people from all walks of life spontaneously recorded videos to cheer for Wuhan; A Brazilian band that had experienced China's fight against the epidemic in Xi'an created the Internet celebrity song "Unity to Fight the Epidemic", which fondly praised Chinese medical workers; South African enterprises have donated funds to support China's fight against the epidemic for many times, and the administrative capital Pretoria Times Square has played slogans such as "Times Square firmly supports China's fight against the epidemic" and "China refuels" on all the large electronic screens in its venue...
China has always remembered and cherished this friendship and has always provided support to the international community in fighting the epidemic within its capabilities. China and Russia have carried out extensive cooperation in epidemic prevention and control, diagnosis and treatment plans, testing reagents, vaccines and drug research and development and production, and worked together to fight the "political virus". China continues to firmly support Brazil in fighting the epidemic through material assistance, procurement assistance, information sharing, and vaccine cooperation. China has actively provided anti-epidemic materials to South Africa and has exchanged anti-epidemic experience with all walks of life in South Africa on many occasions. To help India fight the epidemic, China exports ventilators, oxygen generators, pharmaceutical materials and pharmaceuticals to it. China and India also co-hosted the 2021 BRICS Seminar on Traditional Medicine, advocating that all countries further give play to the unique advantages and role of traditional medicine in epidemic prevention and control.
Gert Grubler, a veteran diplomat in South Africa, said: "The fight against the epidemic is a stress test of international cooperation, and the BRICS countries have delivered convincing answers through coordination and mutual assistance. ”
Between February and April last year, China partnered with the Butantan Institute, Brazil's largest producer of vaccines and biologics, to vaccinate eligible adults in Serrana, a small state of São Paulo, covering 81 percent of the local adult population. After the completion of full vaccination, the number of hospitalizations and deaths infected with COVID-19 in the city dropped significantly, and people's lives returned to normal. Mayor Leo Capitelli said: "Vaccination with China has allowed the people of Serana to live a dignified life!" Alexander Figueredo, director of the Brazilian Institute of Global South Research, said that the large-scale use of Chinese vaccines in Brazil has made great contributions to Brazil's fight against the epidemic.
Assi, a professor at Delhi University in India, said that solidarity and cooperation are the most powerful weapons for the international community to defeat the epidemic. In the face of challenges, China has taken the initiative to share its experience in prevention, control and treatment with the international community, and carry out international cooperation against the epidemic, "China is working with all countries in the world, including brics, to contribute wisdom and strength to the global fight against the epidemic." Humphrey Mosi, director of the Center for China Studies at the University of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania, said that the BRICS countries have also benefited other countries by sharing knowledge and experience on epidemic prevention and control.
Strengthen cooperation to bridge the "immunization divide"
In November 2020, President Xi Jinping said at the 12th BRICS Leaders' Meeting that in order to promote the construction of the BRICS Vaccine R&D Center, China has set up a Vaccine R&D China Center and is willing to promote the joint research and development and trial of vaccines in the five countries, cooperative factory construction, authorized production, and mutual recognition of standards through a combination of online and offline methods.
In May 2021, Beijing Kexing Zhongwei Biotechnology Co., Ltd. officially established the BRICS Vaccine R&D China Center (hereinafter referred to as the "China Center"). In cooperation with the Butantan Institute, the China Center conducted a Phase III clinical trial of the Covid-19 vaccine in Brazil among 12,000 medical staff, confirming the safety and efficacy of the vaccine and providing key evidence for the vaccine to be approved for emergency use in more than 50 countries around the world and to be included in the Emergency Use List by the World Health Organization.
Brazil approved the emergency use of the Coxing vaccine on January 17, 2021, and immediately launched mass vaccination, making the Coxing vaccine the earliest approved emergency use and the earliest mass vaccination of the new crown vaccine in Brazil. Within the next month, 8 Latin American countries, including Chile, Uruguay, Colombia, Dominica, Mexico, Paraguay, Guyana and Ecuador, have successively approved the emergency use of the Coxing vaccine. As of December last year, China had supplied Brazil with 62,000 liters of semi-finished vaccine products, equivalent to 100 million doses.
In South Africa, the China Center, in collaboration with Lomolex Group, conducted a Phase III clinical trial of the COVID-19 vaccine for children and adolescents aged 6 months to 17 years in September 2021, with a population of 4,500 participants. As of now, clinical observations have shown that the Kexing vaccine is safe and more research data will be available in the coming months.
In September 2021, President Xi Jinping stressed at the 13th BRICS Leaders' Meeting that pragmatic cooperation should be carried out in the fields of joint vaccine research and development, cooperative production, and mutual recognition of standards, and the BRICS Vaccine R&D Center should be launched online as soon as possible.
In March this year, the BRICS Vaccine Research and Development Center was launched online. At the launching ceremony, the five countries of the BRICS Vaccine R&D Center jointly proposed the initiative of "Strengthening Vaccine Cooperation and Jointly Building an Anti-epidemic Defense Line": fair and reasonable distribution of vaccines as global public goods, ensuring the accessibility and affordability of vaccines in developing countries, and said that they would strengthen joint research and development to enhance the ability of BRICS countries to prevent and control infectious diseases and respond to public health events.
Alessandro Teixeira, former special economic adviser to the President of Brazil, said that the establishment of the BRICS Vaccine Research and Development Center demonstrates the determination of the BRICS countries to deepen public health cooperation and build a solid defense line against the epidemic. "I believe that the BRICS countries represented by China will continue to play an active role in ensuring the fair distribution of vaccines, accelerating vaccination, and bridging the global 'immunization gap' to bring greater well-being to human health and security."
Innovate mechanisms to promote exchanges and sharing
In response to the changes in the epidemic, brics countries have continuously innovated ways and mechanisms for health cooperation. The five countries have continuously studied and implemented countermeasures such as promoting market opening, promoting risk information sharing, and reducing border restrictions, and have made joint efforts in strengthening mechanism construction, functional transformation, and departmental coordination.
At the government level, since 2020, brics countries have held a series of relevant meetings such as special foreign ministers' meetings on covid-19 response, video conferences of senior health officials, and video meetings of foreign ministers to strengthen anti-epidemic information sharing, in-depth exchange of anti-epidemic experience, and policy-level communication on strengthening joint prevention and control, establishing long-term public health mechanisms, and promoting digital trade.
At the private sector level, the BRICS countries have discussed and released epidemic data through the construction of virtual platforms, shared clinical cases and laboratory progress, and improved each other's ability to respond to the epidemic.
In the financial sector, brics countries have provided strong support for cooperation in the fight against the epidemic. In April 2020, the NEW DEVELOPMENT BANK of the BRICS countries established an emergency loan assistance mechanism through which it approved $10 billion in crisis-related assistance to member countries, most of which has been disbursed.
Under the initiative of President Xi Jinping, the BRICS Traditional Medicine Seminar and the BRICS High-level Conference on Traditional Medicine have been held successively. At the 2022 BRICS High-level Conference on Traditional Medicine held in May this year, officials and experts from the BRICS departments in charge of traditional medicine conducted in-depth exchanges and discussions, and unanimously adopted the 2022 BRICS Traditional Medicine Cooperation Online Initiative.
China actively shares its experience in fighting the epidemic in traditional Chinese medicine with other BRICS countries. After the outbreak of the epidemic, many South African TCM institutions have provided medical services to local patients, distributing free preventive decoctions to the public. Banyasa Resoffee, director of the Department of Education of Gauteng in South Africa, said that proprietary Chinese medicines from China helped him and his family recover from the new crown pneumonia, and "it is crucial for South Africa to learn from the anti-epidemic experience of traditional Chinese medicine in a timely manner".
Idrisa Diandi, a Senegalese economist and professor at the School of Economics and Management at the University of Dakar, said that solidarity against the epidemic and economic recovery have become the key to the future of global development. "The BRICS countries are playing a fundamental role in the fight against the epidemic. Under the BRICS mechanism, the epidemic can be contained through solidarity action. ”
Evandelo Carvalho, director of the Brazilian-Chinese Studies Center of the Vargas Foundation, a Brazilian think tank, said that active international cooperation is an important condition for defeating the epidemic and achieving peace and development. Faced with the dual challenges of fighting the epidemic and reviving the economy, the international community has become more aware of the importance of upholding genuine multilateralism.
Build a "BRICS defense line" against the epidemic and lay a "BRICS Express" to accelerate global development. Whatever the strength is, it is invincible. BriCS countries deepen cooperation, for all countries to work together to defeat the epidemic, promote the recovery of the world economy to convey hope and confidence, BRICS "Year of China" will surely open a new chapter for BRICS cooperation. (Reporters Gao Shi, Zhang Bolan, Liu Rong)
(Zou Song, Li Xiaoxiao, Bi Mengying, Yuan Jirong, Zhang Yuannan, and Wang Hailin also contributed to this article)
People's Daily ( 2022-06-16 Edition 03)