Countries Using Chinese Vaccine & What if Don't Have the Vaccine

China's vaccines are helping these countries fight COVID-19

Countries that approved, received or ordered Chinese COVID-19 vaccines (March 8-14)

Gabon, Bahrain and Congo received its first batch of Chinese COVID-19 vaccines

The first batch of donated Sinopharm vaccines arrived in Libreville, the Gabonese capital on Friday, and was received by its Prime Minister Rose Christiane Ossouka Raponda, accompanied by two ministers and Chinese Ambassador Hu Changchun, at the airport. 

During the receiving ceremony, Gabon's prime minister noted that China was the first country to respond to their request for vaccines.

Also on Friday, Bahrain held a handover ceremony the Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine. As one of the first countries to approve vaccines from China for emergency use and registration, Anwaer Habibullah, Chinese ambassador to Bahrain said the purchase reflects Bahrain's trust and support for Chinese vaccines. 

Bahrain's Minister of Health Faeqa Saeed Al-Saleh expressed her gratitude to China for its strong support at a critical moment in the country's fight against the pandemic, saying the arrival of Chinese vaccines in Bahrain is of great significance for the country to carry out its vaccination rollout.

The Republic of Congo received its first donated Sinopharm vaccines on Wednesday ahead of the vaccination expected on the eve of the scheduled presidential election on March 21.

Congolese Minister of Health Jacqueline Lydia Mikolo, who was accompanied by two other ministers and Chinese Ambassador Ma Fulin at the airport to welcome the cargo, said this is the first batch of COVID-19 vaccines received by her country.

Mexico and Hungary received follow-up shipments of Chinese vaccines

Mexico received a third shipment of a million doses of China's Sinovac vaccine on Sunday, in addition to the second shipment of three million doses of active substance needed to make a COVID-19 vaccine developed by Chinese pharmaceutical firm CanSino Biologics.

Mexico has so far received a total of five million doses of active substance from CanSino, and is upping its vaccine orders from China to make up for a vaccine shortfall and would request 22 million more doses after U.S. President Joe Biden ruled out sharing vaccines with Mexico in the short term.

Mexico ordered an additional 10 million doses of Sinovac, in addition to the previously ordered 10 million doses, which are due to arrive between March and May. The new order will get to Mexico between May and July.

Mexico will also order 12 million vaccine doses made by the state-backed China National Pharmaceutical Group (Sinopharm) once it has been approved by its health regulator.

On Thursday, a second delivery of China's Sinopharm vaccine arrived in Hungary, the only European Union member state to use the jab so far. 

Around 450,000 doses landed in Budapest this time, taking the total number of doses delivered to one million. 

Hungary received the first batch of 550,000 Sinopharm vaccine doses on February 16.

This is the second of four batches that are expected by the end of May, amounting to five million doses in total. That is enough to inoculate a quarter of Hungary's population.

New vote of confidence in Chinese vaccine candidates

Namibia has approved the use of six COVID-19 vaccines including candidates from China, announced Namibian health authorities on Thursday.

Zimbabwe on Tuesday authorized the emergency use of four COVID-19 vaccines, including China's Sinovac and Sinopharm, Russia's Sputnik V and India's Covaxin, Zimbabwean Information Minister Monica Mutsvangwa said.

The nation last month rolled out its COVID-19 vaccination program after receiving a donation of 200,000 doses of shots from Sinopharm.

Ukraine on Tuesday approved the COVID-19 vaccine developed by China's Sinovac, according to its health ministry.

Ukrainian pharmaceutical company Lekhim, one of Sinovac's partners, has an agreement with the manufacturer to deliver five million doses of the vaccine in Ukraine, including 1.9 million via a state procurement scheme.

Official Response: Regarding China's visa facilitation in countries where Chinese vaccines are not being used, what are the utility of these announcements?

01

Prasar Bharati: Regarding China's announcements on visa facilitation in certain countries where Chinese vaccines are not being used, I'd like to understand what are the purpose and utility of these announcements. Has China approached these countries for recognizing Chinese vaccines? If not, then who do you think will benefit from these announcements?

Zhao Lijian: So far, many countries and international organizations have floated the idea of linking vaccination status with opening up international travels. Some have already rolled out specific arrangements to implement such ideas. Our proposal to facilitate the travel of those who have been inoculated with Chinese vaccines is made after thoroughly considering the safety and efficacy of Chinese vaccines. We believe this is a meaningful exploration of facilitating international travel once mass vaccination has been achieved. It is not linked to the recognition of Chinese vaccines.

02

Follow-up: That's fine. It's a meaningful attempt to open up the travels. But if the Chinese vaccines are not available at all in these countries, and China is not approaching those countries for using the Chinese vaccines, then how can anybody from those countries get inoculated by Chinese vaccines and get the benefit of the announcement? Also, would it not be better if China recognizes the WHO-approved vaccines, for most of Chinese vaccines are also in the process of approval by WHO? Wouldn't it be more useful?

Zhao Lijian: I can understand what you were suggesting. But as I just said, China's proposal is a meaningful step we are trying to facilitate international travel. This is an arrangement made by the Chinese side unilaterally. It is a different thing from vaccine recognition. As to your question about China approving other countries' vaccines, I already stated China's position yesterday.

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SOURCES:

1) https://www.fmprc.gov.cn/web/fyrbt_673021/t1861552.shtml

2) https://www.fmprc.gov.cn/mfa_eng/xwfw_665399/s2510_665401/t1861570.shtml

3) https://news.cgtn.com/news/2021-03-14/China-continues-to-contribute-to-global-vaccine-distribution-YCquwiznFK/index.html

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