China says that Africans will be the first to receive its Coronavirus vaccine.
China has pledged to supply any vaccine against Coronavirus to Africans first free of charge.
In his speech at this year’s China Africa Summit held on the 17th of June 2020, President Xi said, “At the FOCAC Beijing Summit, we agreed to work together to build an even stronger China-Africa community with a shared future. Today’s Extraordinary China-Africa Summit on Solidarity against COVID-19 is our concrete step to deliver the commitment we made at the Beijing Summit and to do our part in the international cooperation against COVID-19. I am convinced that humanity will ultimately defeat the virus and that the Chinese and African people are poised to embrace better days ahead”.
Chinese scientists have developed five out of 10 potential vaccines undergoing clinical trials, while a sixth is the result of a partnership between a Chinese company and a German biotech firm, according to the World Health Organisation. The president also added that China would push the Group of 20 to slow down debt repayment for African nations and that China’s construction of a new Africa Center of Disease Control headquarters would start “ahead of schedule” this year, despite the pandemic, Africa News reported.
According to Africa News, state media reported China has sent 30 million testing kits, 10,000 ventilators 80 million masks monthly to Africa, in addition to teams of experts to help nations fight the coronavirus.
