Giving its best shots

Chinese COVID-19 vaccines delivered across continents convey its profound feelings of friendship to Sierra Leone

Thanks to the concerted efforts and close cooperation of both countries, a batch of Chinese COVID-19 vaccine traversed continents and arrived in the Sierra Leone capital Freetown on Feb 25, 2021. Donated by the Chinese government, this is a precious gift from the Chinese government and people to the government and people of Sierra Leone, who are currently making unwavering efforts in their battle against the novel coronavirus. The Sierra Leone government held a launch ceremony of its vaccination program on March 15, and have since then been conducting vaccination for health workers and other priority groups across the country.

Countries all around the world are striving to get COVID-19 vaccines, but the supply can by no means meet the high demand at the moment. China is still faced with the pressure of a resurgence of the virus at home and is in earnest need of the vaccines itself. Nevertheless, China has overcome the difficulties and donated the vaccines to Sierra Leone by special arrangement.

The donation is one of the concrete actions to deliver on President Xi Jinping's solemn pledge to make China's COVID-19 vaccines a global public good and contribute to the availability and affordability of COVID-19 vaccines for developing countries.

It also vividly reflects the strong friendship between China and Sierra Leone as well as the decadeslong practice of the two countries and peoples sharing weal and woe.

Over the past year, the COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant adverse impact on Sierra Leone's economic and social development as well as its people's lives. Under the staunch leadership of President Julius Maada Bio, the government and people of Sierra Leone have combated the pandemic with firm resolve and concrete actions, achieving commendable results. China believes that the donated vaccines will substantially help strengthen Sierra Leone's tenacious fight against the virus, protect the lives of the people, especially the frontline medical and health workers, and contribute to Sierra Leone's final victory over the pandemic.

Unity and cooperation are the international community's most potent weapons to overcome the pandemic. China steadfastly upholds that humanity is a community with a shared future, and actively promotes international cooperation to combat the pandemic, making concerted efforts with the international community to protect the lives and health of people in all countries.

United Nations data show that as of early February 2021, a total of 107.3 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been distributed globally. With these, 6 percent of the population in North America has been vaccinated, ranking first, 3.6 percent in Europe, 0.9 percent in Asia, 0.7 percent in South America, and less than 0.1 percent in Africa. Some developed countries have purchased huge amounts of COVID-19 vaccines, while the vaccine needs of less developed countries are put on the back burner. Against this backdrop, China is taking concrete actions to promote the fair distribution of vaccines. At the request of the World Health Organization, China decided to provide 10 million doses of Chinese vaccines to COVAX with a view to meeting the urgent needs of developing countries. China has provided vaccine assistance to more than 50 countries including Sierra Leone, and made arrangements to facilitate the import of Chinese vaccines by nearly 30 countries.

The Chinese government gives the safety and efficacy of the country's COVID-19 vaccines top priority, and Chinese companies have been developing vaccines in accordance with strict laws and regulations, and the safety and efficacy of the Chinese vaccines has been proven by scientific data. The Chinese National Medical Product Administration has granted conditional approval for market use of the relevant vaccines based on strict and prudent evaluations. As of Feb 20,34 million doses of the Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine have been administered among Chinese people in China. The severe adverse reaction rate after vaccination is less than one in a million, which is much lower than the general influenza vaccines commonly in use worldwide. As long as the vaccines are stored and used in the prescribed way, there should be no serious safety issues. The donated Sinopharm vaccine was found to be about 80 percent effective in China's Phase III mid-term trial and 86 percent effective in the trial in the United Arab Emirates. The effective rate of preventing mild symptoms from developing into severe cases was 100 percent.

Many countries, such as the UAE, Bahrain, Pakistan, Iraq, Egypt, Brazil, Argentina, Nepal, Hungary, Turkey and Serbia have approved the use of Chinese vaccines. Many countries have organized chartered flights to China for vaccine collection, and many heads of state or government have been inoculated with a Chinese vaccine at the airport on the arrival of the vaccines. At least nine heads of foreign state or government have publicly received Chinese vaccine jabs. These are all votes of confidence in the safety and efficacy of Chinese vaccines.

China does not pursue any geopolitical goals in its international cooperation on the COVID-19 vaccine, or calculate any economic benefits, or attach any political strings to the cooperation. China wishes to make COVID-19 vaccines truly people's vaccines. Accusations from certain people who try to raise doubts about Chinese vaccines or slander China's vaccine cooperation are unwarranted and ill-motivated. China will continue to work with all parties including Sierra Leone to build a global community of health for all and achieve final victory over the pandemic.

This year marks the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China, the 60th anniversary of independence of the Republic of Sierra Leone, as well as the 50th anniversary of the establishment of China-Sierra Leone diplomatic relationship. For a long time, the two countries have been genuine friends enjoying mutual trust, mutual respect, mutual support, win-win cooperation and common development. In this special year, China will work with Sierra Leone to elevate the comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership between the two countries to a new high for the betterment of both countries and peoples.

The author is the Chinese ambassador to Sierra Leone. The author contributed this article to China Watch, a think tank powered by China Daily. The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.

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