China on Thursday signed an agreement with Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance to officially join COVAX, a global platform that supports the research and development (R&D) as well as manufacturing of COVID-19 vaccine candidates, according to China's Foreign Ministry on Friday.

The COVID-19 vaccines developed and deployed by China will be made a public good, and priority will be given to developing countries, Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Hua Chunying was quoted as saying in a statement on the ministry's website. She added that China will also strengthen vaccine cooperation with relevant countries through the COVAX network.

As China continues to focus on ensuring that developing countries have equal access to appropriate, safe and effective vaccines, the country still decided to join COVAX even as it leads the world with several vaccines in advanced stages of R&D and with ample production capacity.

Hua also said she hopes more capable countries will also join and support COVAX.

COVAX is one of three pillars of the Access to COVID-19 Tools (ACT) Accelerator, which was launched in April by the World Health Organization (WHO), the European Commission and France in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

As of September 21, 156 countries have signed deals to join the COVID-19 vaccine allocation plan, the Guardian reported. The world's largest economy, the US, has so far decided to sit COVAX out.