Not only has China developed vaccines, but its excellent control of the coronavirus by non-pharmaceutical methods of public health now gives that nation the ability to export large quantities of vaccines to other countries.
On Feb. 4, China’s Ambassador to the Republic of Congo announced after a meeting with that nation’s President, that China would donate 100,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccine to the Republic of Congo and forgive the entirety of debt that nation owed through the end of 2020 — $13 million in public debt. (A similar debt forgiveness was implemented with the Democratic Republic of Congo in January.) The Republic of Congo is allocated 420,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine under the Covax initiative.
Also on Feb. 4, the Chinese Embassy in Syria announced that 150,000 doses would be sent to that nation, although timing is not clear. The WHO representative in Damascus said that Covax plans to vaccinate 5 million Syrians.
