The first meeting of the International Forum on COVID-19 Vaccine Cooperation on Thursday highlighted the need to make vaccines a global public good, ensure fair and equitable distribution of vaccines, and increase the vaccine production capacity of developing countries.

Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi chaired the meeting held via video link under the theme of "strengthening international cooperation on vaccines, promoting fair and equitable distribution of vaccines around the world."

China builds global immunity barrier

Hailing China's contributions in global vaccines cooperation, Wang noted several aspects in which China takes the lead, such as sharing the genetic sequence of the novel coronavirus with the world, providing vaccines to developing countries in need, cooperating with developing countries in vaccine production, and actively providing vaccines to the UN peacekeepers and the International Olympic Committee. 

China has been providing vaccines to countries in need since September 2020. It has donated vaccines to over 100 countries and is exporting vaccines to over 60 countries, with a total of over 770 million doses, ranking first in the world, according to Wang. 

At present, four Chinese vaccines have been approved for use in over 100 countries and international authorities have recognized their safety and effectiveness, the Chinese foreign minister said. 

China recently launched the Initiative for Belt and Road Partnership on COVID-19 Vaccines Cooperation and welcomes more countries to join, Wang said, adding that China conducts international vaccine cooperation with no political purpose, with no calculation of economic interests, and with no political strings attached. 

Meanwhile, Chinese President Xi Jinping announced on Thursday that China will strive to provide 2 billion COVID-19 vaccine doses to the world this year as well as $100 million to the COVAX program, taking a step further in honoring its commitment to making vaccines a global public good.

Consensus on global vaccine cooperation

On global vaccine cooperation, the participants reached consensus on multiple points. 

Reaffirming the importance of COVID-19 vaccines as a global public good, they agreed to make more efforts to make vaccines accessible and affordable in developing countries, develop and produce vaccines with the highest health standards, and oppose "vaccine nationalism."

"Vaccines are a weapon to save lives, not a means to seek personal gains for one country, still less a tool to play geopolitical games," Wang said. He also stressed the importance of mutual vaccine certification and regulatory policy coordination based on scientific and fair principles.

"We should strengthen international joint prevention and control efforts to minimize the risk of cross-border spread of the epidemic," he added. 

Foreign ministers or competent ministers of relevant countries, representatives of the United Nations and other international organizations, and representatives of relevant enterprises attended the meeting on behalf of some 30 parties. 

They spoke highly of China's leading role in international cooperation against COVID-19, especially in vaccine cooperation, thanked China for fulfilling its commitment to vaccines as a global public good and providing vaccines to the world, especially developing countries. 

As for addressing the "immunity gap" caused by unfair vaccines distribution among countries around the world and jointly defeating the pandemic at an early date, they emphasized strengthening international cooperation on vaccine production capacity.