China will donate 600 million doses of its Covid-19 vaccine to Africa at a time when the new omicron variant of the coronaviruses is spreading in the southern part of the continent and there is concern about the lack of equitable vaccine access to poorer nations.
The Chinese President delivered his speech during the China-Africa Cooperation meeting in the African country of Senegal.
The images are from the same source.
During the opening ceremony of the China-Africa forum in Senegal on Monday, Chinese President Xi Jinping made a vaccine supply pledge in a virtual address.
One billion doses of Chinese developed Covid-19 vaccines will be given to African nations, with 400 million of them being offered through local production by Chinese companies in Africa.
China has already delivered 200 million vaccine doses to the continent, and Monday's pledge will be on top of that.
1,500 health experts from China will go to Africa.
President Joe Biden supports waiving intellectual property rights for Covid-19 vaccines, as does Chinese President XI.
The number is big.
5.3%. According to Our World In Data, there is a percentage of people in low-income countries who have received at least one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine. More than 70% of people in high-income and upper-middle-income countries have received at least one dose.
At a time when health experts around the world criticize wealthy nations for failing to offer equitable access to vaccines for people in poorer nations, China has promised to give a billion doses of Covid-19 vaccines to Africa. The new coronaviruses variant was first detected by South African officials. There are concerns that the Omicron variant may be more infectious than the existing ones and that it may be less effective than the existing vaccines.
There is a structure called the Tangent.
China has been using its locally developed vaccines as a soft power tool since the beginning of the year, while western nations were accused of being too cautious with their vaccine supplies. China's foreign ministry said in September that it had delivered 1.1 billion vaccine doses to more than 100 countries. Reports suggest that the effectiveness of vaccine diplomacy appears to be wavering due to concern about the efficacy of Chinese vaccines and the availability of western-developed vaccines. The Secretary of State traveled to Africa to discuss boosting local production of vaccines. The donation of 17 million single dose Johnson & Johnson vaccines to the African Union was announced by President Joe Biden in October.
China will give 600 million vaccine doses to Africa.
China Vaccine Diplomacy Wavers as Nations Seek Western Shots.
Coverage and live updates on the coronaviruses.
