The South American Football Confederation (CONMEBOL) has announced that China will donate 50,000 doses of Sinovac's COVID-19 vaccine to help protect players ahead of the much-anticipated Copa America, which is for the first time in its 105-year history to be held in two countries, Colombia and Argentina.

The tournament was due to kick off in last summer but was postponed by a full year due to the pandemic. Argentina's Buenos Aires is scheduled to host the opening game between Argentina and Chile on June 13, with the final to be staged in the Colombian city of Barranquilla on July 10.

"It is the best news that the South American football family can receive," beamed CONMEBOL President Alejandro Dominguez in a statement on Tuesday. 

"It's a huge step forward in defeating the COVID-19 pandemic. I appreciate this great gesture of solidarity and support from Sinovac, who understands that football is fundamental for the economy, culture, physical and mental health of South Americans."

"It does not mean under any circumstances that we will let our guard down. We will maintain our responsible work, which allowed us to conclude our tournaments smoothly and without altering the formats," he added.

Dominguez also thanked Uruguayan President Luis Lacalle Pou, Secretary of the Presidency Alvaro Delgado, Minister of Sports Sebastian Bauza, Uruguayan Ambassador to China Fernando Lugris and Uruguayan Football Association President Ignacio Alonso for their roles in brokering the deal with Chinese biopharmaceutical company Sinovac.

"The Presidency of Uruguay, in its clear commitment to support sport, selflessly offered its resources to cooperate with Sinovac. No other confederation in the world has so far managed to obtain the immunizers to initiate a mass vaccination process," said Dominguez.

The sentiment was echoed by Yin Weidong, chairman, president and CEO of Sinovac, who declared that sports can go over boundaries, improve human physical and psychological health, promote fairness and inspire hopes of all countries. 

"Facing this global pandemic of COVID-19, the vaccine serves the same purpose, because health is everyone's goal. Sinovac's mission is to supply vaccines to eliminate human diseases," he said. "As the vaccine brings hope, we sincerely hope everyone to come out of the threat from the pandemic and restart our beloved activities."

"We expect the athletes and audiences to start returning to the pitch. Then we can watch the games together and cheer together," Yin observed.

Sinovac vaccines come at time when South America is experiencing an upsurge of a more contagious variant of the coronavirus, with Brazil, Argentina, Peru, Chile and Paraguay recording high mortality rates. Last week, Brazil confirmed more than 4,000 COVID-related deaths in 24 hours for the first time.

"Mortality increases because patients have difficulty finding the care they need, and health workers are overburdened by tending to too many people at once," said Dr Carissa Etienne, director of the Pan American Health Organisation, in a weekly news conference.

Two rounds of South American World Cup qualifiers scheduled for the end of March have already been postponed. CONMEBOL explained that its council made the move based on "the impossibility of having all South American players" available for the games.