China, which has four coronavirus vaccine candidates in stage 3 clinical trials, said on Friday that it will join the Covid-19 vaccine alliance known as COVAX.
The country signed an agreement with GAVI, the co-leader of the alliance, on Thursday, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said in a statement. China initially did not agree to join the alliance as it missed the global deadline to join in September.
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Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said in a statement that “we are taking this concrete step to ensure the equitable distribution of vaccines, especially in developing countries, and we hope that more capable countries will also join and support COVAX “. The exact terms of the deal and how China will contribute is not yet clear. The country’s leader, Xi Jinping, previously said that China would make the vaccine a global public good.
The alliance is designed to get the richest countries to agree to buy potential vaccines and help finance access for the poorest. The Trump administration in the United States had refused to join the alliance.
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