China, African countries conduct fruitful COVID-19 vaccine cooperation

BEIJING, Aug. 23 (Xinhua) -- As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to rage around the world, vaccine cooperation between China and African countries has made remarkable progress.

Since the Eighth Ministerial Conference of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) was held in November 2021, China has provided 189 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines to 27 African countries, and the localized production capacity in cooperation with African partners has reached about 400 million doses yearly.

At FOCAC's Eighth Ministerial Conference, China announced that it would provide an additional 1 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines to Africa, undertake 10 medical and health projects for African countries, and send 1,500 medical personnel and public health experts to Africa.

"Since the Eighth Ministerial Conference, China has supported Africa's fight against the pandemic, as well as its post-pandemic recovery and development, through concrete aid projects," said Liu Junfeng, an official with the China International Development Cooperation Agency.

Liu said China will continue to ship vaccines and anti-pandemic supplies to Kenya, Mali and other African countries, and will continue to work with Africa to implement relevant anti-pandemic cooperation measures.

Chinese enterprises have played an active role in improving the accessibility and affordability of COVID-19 vaccines in Africa.

The vaccines developed by the China National Biotec Group (CNBG), Sinopharm's bioscience subsidiary, have been approved for use by 47 African countries. CNBG's vaccines are suitable for people over three years of age.

Sinovac, another Chinese biopharmaceutical company, has supplied vaccines to African nations and promoted cooperation with these countries in fields such as clinical research, localized manufacturing and cold chain storage to aid Africa's pandemic prevention and control efforts.

China has sent 332 additional medical personnel to 19 African countries and trained 3,600 local medical personnel since FOCAC's Eighth Ministerial Conference.

In addition, the China-aided Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention headquarters project is expected to be completed in early 2023. It will facilitate China-Africa cooperation in public health and help Africa improve its capacity for pandemic prevention and control.

China will continue to provide vaccines and anti-pandemic supplies to African countries in need, carry out medical and technical cooperation, help African countries improve their public health systems, support African countries in their fight against the pandemic and in post-pandemic economic and social recovery, and make greater contributions to the construction of a closer China-Africa community with a shared future, Liu said.