Most Chinese citizens are being vaccinated against the COVID vaccine made in China. The two key brands are Kexing and Sinopharm, which have been approved by the World Health Organization for emergency use.
- WHO plans to ship 100 million doses of Sinovac and Sinopharm Covid-19 vaccine.
- Most of the vaccine will be sold to Africa and Asia.
- However, South Africa “cannot” accept these doses.
A WHO document shows that the World Health Organization’s pandemic project plans to ship 100 million doses of Coxinghe Sinopharm Covid-19 vaccine by the end of next month, mainly to Africa and Asia. This is its first delivery of Chinese vaccines.
After supply issues and the imposition of export restrictions by India, the main producer, China’s shipments will help sputter the global Covax vaccine sharing plan, which is far behind its commitment to deliver 2 billion doses of vaccine this year.
Despite concerns about the efficacy of China’s vaccines, some recipient countries have rejected or paired with boosters from Western manufacturers, but it may also promote Beijing’s vaccine diplomacy efforts.
A WHO document dated July 29 stated that of China’s 100 million vaccines, half will be provided by Sinopharm Group, and the other half will be provided by Kexing Group, scheduled to be delivered “July to September 2021” .
A spokesperson for the Global Vaccines and Immunization Alliance (GAVI), which co-leads COVAX with WHO, told Reuters that as of mid-August, Sinopharm had shipped about 10 million vaccines.
Sinopharm, Kexing and China’s Ministry of Trade did not respond to requests for comment on when the vaccine will be delivered to China.
The Chinese vaccine has been distributed to 60 countries, mainly in Africa, and is expected to receive one-third of the 100 million doses.
However, not all countries want China’s vaccine.
South Africa is listed by Covax as one of the largest Chinese vaccination countries in Africa and has allocated 2.5 million doses of Chinese vaccines, but a senior health official told Reuters that the country is currently unable to accept these vaccines.
Nicholas Crisp, deputy director of the health department responsible for overseeing the promotion of vaccines, said: “There is not enough information to show the effectiveness of the Delta variant, and there is no data on Xenoxin in HIV-infected people.”
He told Reuters:
We have not yet accepted Covax Sinovac because it is too early in our evaluation and planning process.
Konovak did not immediately respond to a request for comment on South Africa’s position.
Nigeria is the main country in Africa where Covax receives China’s vaccination. It has distributed nearly 8 million doses of Sinopharm. The vaccine has approved the vaccine but called it a “potential” option for the country’s vaccination campaign.
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A GAVI spokesperson declined to comment on South Africa and Nigeria, and pointed out that other countries were not included in this round. One of the reasons was that some countries decided not to accept Sinopharm and Kexing’s vaccines.
Officials from Kenya, Rwanda, Togo and Somalia said that they are not worried about the vaccines injected by China because they have been reviewed by the WHO and need to vaccinate more people as soon as possible.
The distribution of Covax’s vaccine to China was carried out after the WHO urgently approved Sinopharm’s Kovok vaccine in May and June. GAVI has received a supply of up to 550 million vaccines from the two companies until next year.
Its latest forecast shows that, including China Vaccine, the facility is expected to provide about 500 million doses of vaccine by the end of September. So far, it has shipped 215 million vaccines, most of which are AstraZeneca.
Ukraine is the only country in Europe on the Covax list in China and is expected to receive approximately 160,000 doses of Sinovac vaccine.
It is estimated that Asian countries will receive more than 25 million Chinese vaccines, of which nearly 11 million Coxing vaccines will be shipped to Indonesia, making it the largest country to receive Chinese vaccines through Covax. Other vaccines will be used in Latin American and Middle Eastern countries.
Indonesia has decided to provide boosters to medical workers, mainly using Moderna vaccine-most of them are vaccinated with Sinovac vaccine.
This reflects similar initiatives in other countries that have deployed Huaxing vaccines, such as Brazil and Chile.
Among those vaccinated in Indonesia, health care workers account for only a small percentage, but many people interpret the boost policy as a sign of declining confidence in Kexing.
When asked why Indonesia bought the vaccine, which is also the main recipient country through bilateral transactions, an official from the Indonesian Ministry of Health told Reuters: “Sinovac can guarantee us the quantity they can provide.”
