China officially joins the Global Coronavirus Vaccine Initiative (COVAX). Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying confirmed this at a regular press conference on Friday (Oct. 9), saying that China signed an agreement with the Global Alliance for Vaccine Immunization (GAVI) on Oct. 8 to formally join the New Coronary Pneumonia Vaccine Implementation Program (NCPIP).
“China is solemnly committed to providing the vaccine to developing countries as a global public good on a priority basis once it is developed and put into use,” Hua Chunying said.
The GAVI Alliance is a “public-private partnership” for global health that aims to increase immunization coverage in poor countries, founded in January 2000 by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and headquartered in Geneva. The World Health Organization is one of the partners.
The Global New Canopy Vaccine Initiative is led by the Global Alliance for Vaccine Immunization, the Coalition for Epidemic Prevention Innovation (CEPI), and the World Health Organization. The program was launched internationally by WHO on August 6 in a document on the Global Access Mechanism for New Canopy Vaccines posted on its website. According to the WHO, COVAX is called “The COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access”.
The United States is not a member
The United States has not joined the program, and White House spokesman Judd Deere said in a Sept. 1 statement that “the United States will continue to engage with our international partners to ensure that we defeat this virus, but we will not be constrained by the corrupt World Health Organization and Chinese-influenced multilateral organizations.”
China’s Late Accession
From Hua Chunying’s answers to reporters’ questions, it is clear that China only signed the accession agreement with GAVI Alliance on October 8. China has not been clear on whether it will join COVAX. In response to a question from Reuters on the COVAX application deadline (September 18), Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin did not directly answer whether China had decided to join COVAX, but said that China supports the New Coronary Pneumonia Vaccine Implementation Program and has been in constant communication with WHO and other sponsors of the program.
In the process of vaccine development, we attach great importance to safety and efficacy, and strictly follow international norms and relevant laws and regulations,” Wang said at the time.
Some Chinese experts have interpreted China’s delay in joining COVAX as “caution” because China wants to balance the needs of its domestic and neighboring countries.
In the wake of the global outbreak of the new coronavirus, China has been criticized for being slow to act in the early stages of the outbreak and for hiding the true nature of the virus. According to a new Pew Research Center poll, a growing number of countries have a negative view of China. The survey covers 14 of the most developed democracies. Some analysts believe that this may be one of the reasons why China has made changes and is overdue to join COVAX.
However, China has so far not provided any details of its support for the COVAX program.
Chinese leader Xi Jinping has repeatedly said that China is willing to take the lead in benefiting developing countries, especially those in Africa, as a global public good once its vaccines are developed and put into use. At Friday’s press conference, Hua Chunying also “solemnly pledged” to make the vaccines developed and put into use in China available as public goods to developing countries as a matter of priority.
Chinese netizens spit out
Chinese netizens are unhappy that China has joined the COVAX program, giving priority to developing countries in providing the new coronavirus vaccine as a “public good”. Some netizens said, “You sell two doses of the vaccine to your own people for $600, but you provide it to African countries for free? There are also netizens who exclaim, “After all, the life of a foreign adult is the life.”
Zhang Yuntao, vice president of China Biologicals, a central Chinese company, said the price of the vaccine will definitely be substantially less than 1,000 yuan overall, but no price has been set yet. However, there is talk of a future domestic launch in China, with two shots priced at RMB 600.
Zhou Song, the group’s legal director, said the inactivated Xinguan vaccine requires two doses of vaccine, 2-4 weeks apart. According to Sinopharm’s website, Sinopharm China Bio is responsible for the development of two inactivated vaccines, and the group accounts for two of the four vaccines in final-stage clinical trials in China.
On the question of whether the new coronavirus vaccine is free to developing countries, Cha Daogiong, a professor at Peking University’s School of South-South Cooperation and Development, explained that the vaccine is a product that is a global public good. Public goods are subsidized with money from the Fund, so that they can be sold at low cost or given away for free to countries that need them but cannot afford to develop them or buy them on the open vaccine market.
WHO Secretary General Tan Desai said on October 6 that a COVID-19 vaccine may be available by the end of this year.
China has four COVID-19 vaccines in phase III clinical trials and is working with at least 14 other countries to test them.
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