After months of promises, controversies, and disputes over how effective they really are, tens of millions of Chinese-made COVID-19 vaccines are now on their way to developing countries.
On Sunday Egypt became the second country in Africa, after the Seychelles, to launch a full-scale vaccination drive using a vaccine produced by the China National Pharmaceutical Group (Sinopharm) for the opening phase. The health ministry says that it’s focusing this initial wave of vaccines on an estimated 50,000 healthcare professionals.
Egypt is also in talks with the Covax alliance to secure 40 million doses and negotiations are also underway to secure supplies of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine.
A Big Weekend For Chinese COVID-19 Vaccines:
- MOROCCO: Morocco officially authorized the emergency use of the COVID-19 vaccine developed by China’s Sinopharm, Morocco’s Ministry of Health said in a statement. The country also received 2 million doses of Oxford-AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine on Friday. (CGTN AFRICA)
- TURKEY: Turkish Health Minister Fahrettin Koca announced on Sunday that 6.5 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccines would arrive in Turkey from China on Monday. (GLOBAL TIMES)
- PAKISTAN: The Chinese pharmaceutical company CanSino Biologics Inc. is offering preferential access to Pakistan to secure 20 million doses of its single shot COVID-19 vaccine. (BLOOMBERG)
