China will provide 100 million Covid-19 vaccine at the end of 2021, Chinese President Xi Jinping said Thursday in a statement issued by China’s state news agency Xinhua.
Xi promised in a general meeting with the leaders of Brazil, Russia, India and South Africa – which together with China produces BRICS an alliance of developing countries.
In addition to unveiling the pledge of vaccine donations, Xi used the platform to end the BRICS agreement as a strong player in the global arena and to issue a counter-notification from Western governments.
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“Our five countries have facilitated international cooperation and participation in global governance by promoting justice, fairness, and mutual support,” Xi said. “And we have become an important group in the world to be reckoned with.”
BRICS leaders Russian President Vladimir Putin, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Chinese President Xi Jinping, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa and Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro at a video conference on Thursday. Photo: India News Press Bureau via AP alt = BRICS Leaders Russian President Vladimir Putin, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Chinese President Xi Jinping, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa and Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro at a video conference Thursday. Photo: India News Information Bureau via AP
In a statement similar to what Chinese officials have said criticizing China from the US and other Western countries for disrupting Beijing’s internal affairs, Xi said BRICS members “respect each other’s policies and procedures”.
Without giving real examples of success, Xi said the epidemic “has shown that as long as we take our ideas and efforts, we can move steadily, steadily and steadily in the BRICS alliance, no matter what”.
The new vaccine is the latest in a series of new initiatives from Beijing, as more and more countries continue to be criticized for fighting the virus.
Earlier this week, Beijing announced a $ 3 million donation Covid-19 vaccine Dosage along with other aid to Taliban-controlled Afghanistan.
The Chinese government has also promised to provide US $ 100 million to Covax, and the World Health Organization (WHO) has made it possible for vaccines worldwide.
The Beijing fundraising campaign has filed lawsuits from US lawmakers that China is using the vaccine to help developing countries, saying Beijing has rejected it.
“Vaccination is a tool to help fight the epidemic, not a tool for political gain, especially for war and contempt for other countries,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said in July.
A clinician plans to administer Covid-19 vaccine to a person in a vaccinated environment, during a government-sponsored trip to Beijing, China on January 15, 2021. dose of Covid-19 vaccine to a person at a vaccinated site during a state visit, Beijing, China on January 15, 2021. Photo: Reuters
Thursday’s announcement is also in line with concerns that existing low-income countries will be denied access if the richest countries like the US go ahead and shoot people already vaccinated.
Although countries such as the US, Canada, and Britain have more than half the world’s population vaccinated, not one low-income country has received a 10% vaccine, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
On Wednesday, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus called for a moratorium on the 2021-year overdose, expressing concern that vaccine manufacturers’ interest in dealing with rich countries is robbing countries of low-income “weapons of mass destruction”.
“We’ve been asking for vaccinations from the beginning, not the rich countries being cared for,” Tedros said at a press conference at WHO.
To date, China has sold 1.2 billion vaccines worldwide, and has provided 54 million euros, according to tracker Bridge Consulting, a Beijing-based subsidiary.
By comparison, the US has provided approximately 128 million vaccines worldwide, with two-thirds of those traveling to Asian and African countries, according to the State department.
While Western politicians have criticized China for its immunization policy, US President Joe Biden has released a vaccine around the world as an opportunity to prove that the US is “back to leading the world”.
“In the 21st century race between democracies and regimes, we must ensure that democracies are able to deliver,” Biden said in an August interview on a vaccination campaign in his government.
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