José Manuel Barroso, Chairman of the Gavi Board Photo: Courtesy of José Manuel Barroso

Editor's Note: 

Chinese President Xi Jinping on Saturday stressed coordinated efforts to boost global economic recovery and proposed a six-point Global Vaccine Cooperation Action Initiative while addressing the 16th G20 Leaders' Summit via video link. Before the proposal, China had already been a vital provider of vaccines and anti-epidemic materials to the world. What key role has the country played and what are the difficulties for global vaccine provision at present? Global Times has interviewed José Manuel Barroso, Chairman of the Gavi Board, ahead of G20 Summit.

China plays a key role in promoting equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines against the threats of vaccine nationalism, export controls and supply bottlenecks, José Manuel Barroso, Chairman of the Gavi Board and former prime minister of Portugal and ex-president of the European Commission, told the Global Times in an exclusive interview ahead of the Group of 20 (G20) Leaders' Summit.  

Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, is coleading the COVAX Facility, a platform aimed to accelerate the development and manufacture of COVID-19 vaccines and guarantee fair and equitable access for every country. The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations and the World Health Organiztaion are also leading the initiative. 

With over 408 million vaccine doses now delivered in 145 countries, COVAX represents the most effective model the world has for bringing an end to the acute phase of the COVID-19 pandemic, Barroso said. 

However, it needs support to meet its goal of covering all vulnerable and at-risk groups in lower-income countries and territories by the end of the year. "Vaccine nationalism, export controls and supply bottlenecks must be overcome if we are to end the acute phase of this pandemic," Barroso pointed out, noting that China's role can be key. 

"We welcome the recent donation of $100 million by China to the Gavi COVAX Advance Market Commitment (Gavi COVAX AMC), and almost 60 million doses from Chinese manufacturers have already reached countries around the world. As we ramp up deliveries, we hope to see continued and increased Chinese support for global equitable access to vaccines," Barroso said.

Chinese President Xi Jinping on Saturday stressed on coordinated efforts to boost global economic recovery and proposed a six-point Global Vaccine Cooperation Action Initiative while addressing the 16th G20 Leaders' Summit via video link.

As part of the Initiative, Xi proposed to strengthen vaccine R&D cooperation and support vaccine companies in conducting joint R&D and production with developing countries.

Luo Zhaohui,  Chairman of the China International Development Cooperation Agency, announced on Tuesday that China will strive to contribute 2 billion COVID-19 vaccine doses to the world this year, in addition to a donation of 100 million doses to developing countries and $100 million to COVAX, to facilitate global vaccine cooperation and build a global community of health for all.

China has provided more than 1.5 billion COVID-19 vaccine doses to 106 countries and four international organizations since the beginning of this year, as well as a large number of epidemic prevention supplies, including protective suits, face masks and ventilators, to 150 countries and 13 international organizations, Luo said during a press conference.

According to Barroso, COVAX currently has advance purchase agreements with three Chinese manufacturers, precisely Sinopharm Group with 170 million doses, Sinovac Biotech with 380 million doses, and Clover Biopharmaceuticals with 414 million doses. Additionally, 28.8 million doses of Sinopharm vaccine have been delivered. 

Sinovac announced on Thursday that the company has currently delivered nearly 34.4 million doses to COVAX and more batches are in preparation.    

China is playing an increasingly prominent role in advancing the global health agenda. "We obviously welcome China's pledge of $100 million to COVAX, which will enable further access to COVID-19 vaccines for the most at risk population in low- and middle-income countries and applaud China's broader commitment to vaccination around the world," Barroso said. 

Ambitious G20 to fight against vaccine nationalism

The G20 Leaders' Summit is scheduled for this weekend in Rome, Italy.

Regarding the summit, Barroso said he hopes it will gather the commitment to do whatever is needed to end the acute phase of this pandemic, give sufficient priority to pandemic preparedness and consider health resilience an issue of the highest importance for the world.

Barroso said he recently met in Rome with the Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi, who is the current chair of the G20. After exchanging views on this topic, he felt confident that the summit will achieve ambitious conclusions for the G20.

As G20 health ministers prepare to meet, they are in a position to ensure that COVAX fulfills its mission by renewing their commitment to global equitable access to vaccines. "The best way they can do that is by guaranteeing that we can access the doses we need to protect at-risk population everywhere as soon as possible," Barroso said.

According to Barroso, the gap between the world's highest and lowest income economies, in terms of vaccination rates, is far too large and about 1.2 billion doses are needed for all at-risk groups in 91 lower-income countries and territories. 

But apart from doses, Barroso noted that COVAX need more visibility from manufacturers and donors on how many doses COVAX can expect, when and from where. 

"Too often, this information comes late, which prevents us from being able to allocate to countries or from preparing and ultimately delays deliveries. Given the capacity of lower-income countries to absorb large volumes of vaccines, what we need from donors is not necessarily more donations, but better-quality ones. This means large volumes up front, with plenty of notice and long shelf lives," Barroso remarked

Currently, the US is the largest donor to COVAX, with $4 billion pledged in funding and over 800 million doses committed to the initiative, of which 85 million doses have been delivered. 

"However, vaccine nationalism, export controls and supply bottlenecks toned to be conquered, whether they come from sovereign governments or manufacturers," Barroso noted, adding that "COVAX can only deliver if it is given the tools it needs to succeed," and called for more support from donor countries and manufacturers to get there around the end of the year.

G20 trade ministers earlier this month promised to work towards a fair distribution of COVID-19 vaccines by lifting export restrictions and making trade more transparent.

"We have to ensure that there is greater circulation of vaccines and that there are production factories in the developing countries," French trade minister Franck Riester said.

The upcoming Group of 20 Leaders' Summit will broadly focus on climate change, health and the global economic recovery, while  health-related negotiations will focus on issues such as the distribution of COVID-19 vaccines and ways to improve pandemic preparedness, according to Xinhua News Agency.