Beijing’s commitment to vaccine distribution seen as vital

China’s commitment to the global distribution of COVID-19 vaccines is vitally important in the fight to contain and defeat the pandemic, said Xulio Rios, director of the Observatory of Chinese Politics in Spain.

China is providing vaccines to more than 100 countries and international organizations, Rios said, and it has played a critical role in helping the world respond to the grave challenge.

China has overcome its own difficulties with the virus while maintaining its commitments to global solidarity to end the pandemic, he said.

It has worked with the World Health Organization and other countries since the onset of the pandemic to bolster the production and distribution of vaccines and increase their accessibility and affordability across the world, especially in developing and less developed countries. The WHO has called for an effort to bridge the distribution gap of vaccines.

This opens an important debate over different global perspectives, with some promoting economic benefits despite the cost in lives, while others favor solidarity and advocate recognizing vaccines as global public goods, Rios said.

“Whether we talk about prevention, containment or vaccination, serious deficiencies have been revealed that not only have to do with national or cultural identities but also with long-standing economic and social models.”

On Saturday the fourth batch of China’s Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine that Hungary had bought arrived in the country and was welcomed at an airport by the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Peter Szijjarto. The vaccines “allow us to further speed up our vaccination program, helping us to reach 4 million vaccinated Hungarians next week”, he said.

The same day Syria received a batch of Chinese-made COVID-19 vaccines offered by the Chinese government.

“Whether we talk about prevention, containment or vaccination, serious deficiencies have been revealed that not only have to do with national or cultural identities but also with longstanding economic and social models,” Rios said.