Ahmed Salam
Former Egyptian media advisor to China and expert of Chinese affairs
The fair and equitable distribution of coronavirus vaccines in developing countries is a critical factor in protecting lives, building human capital, and stimulating health and economic recovery. If the distribution of coronavirus vaccines is unfair, the gap is likely to widen in developing and poor countries.
Thus, the first meeting of the Forum on International Cooperation on Coronavirus Vaccines entitled “Strengthening international cooperation on vaccines and promoting their fair and reasonable distribution in the world”, was held via video conference in early August, and received great attention and participation.
The conference was attended by about thirty representatives of international organizations, vaccine companies and ministers of the relevant countries. The meeting was chaired by Wang Yi, Minister of Foreign Affairs, member of the Chinese State Council, and Egypt participated with a high-level delegation headed by Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry. This meeting is an important and necessary step, as it clarified the good intentions that China seeks. China intends to provide about 2 billion doses of Corona vaccines to the countries of the world during the remaining four and a half months of 2021, as Chinese President Xi Jinping pledged in a written letter to the first meeting of the forum.
Egypt has participated positively in the work of the International Forum for Cooperation on Vaccines, and stressed the importance of supporting and assisting developing countries in obtaining vaccines, commitment to cooperation in modernizing the health systems of African countries, and moving at the international level to provide the necessary funding to provide vaccines to developing countries, and their equitable distribution. These are the meanings emphasized by Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry’s speech before the forum, where he valued China’s cooperation with Egypt in the manufacture of the “Sinovac” vaccine, and expressed Egypt’s appreciation for that step, stressing the need to mobilize more resources to support health systems in Africa, as it is one of the most important regions in Africa. He called on vaccine-manufacturing countries to strengthen their support for the African working group for the acquisition of vaccines. Egypt also stressed, through its foreign minister, that the gap in vaccination rates between developing and developed countries is still widening, and that the epidemic is not only a health crisis, but also has profound social and economic effects, especially on the middle and low income countries.
At the same time, Egypt emphasized “the importance of securing sufficient and sustainable financial support for the COVAX facility to accelerate vaccination rates in developing countries, in addition to supporting the local manufacturing capabilities of developing countries to expand the base of vaccine production to contribute to alleviating pressure on international manufacturers to meet the increasing global demand, and to waive the rights of intellectual property to achieve this goal,” and expressed appreciation for the support provided by China in this regard, which was estimated at $100 million, to the Kofax facility.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, Egypt has cooperated with China in combating it, and this cooperation has taken many features, and at the present time has reached cooperation between the two countries in the field of vaccine manufacturing, and within the framework of this cooperation, the Egyptian government aims to manufacture about 80 million doses of the “Sinovac” vaccine. By the end of 2021, within the factories of the “Vaccera” company, in conjunction with the establishment of a new factory for the company, and in a way that supports Egypt’s direction to manufacture vaccines and the eight main anti-Corona vaccines in the future, in addition to Sinovac.
In May 2021, Egypt received from China the first batch of raw materials to manufacture the Sinovac vaccine in Egypt, which aims to manufacture 40 million doses of the vaccine annually. It also received several shipments of the Chinese Sinopharma vaccine to vaccinate its citizens. Production of one million doses of the anti-Corona vaccine.
Within the framework of what the first meeting of the forum seeks, Egypt is committed to supporting the needs of African countries in the face of Corona and in cooperation with China. By providing vaccines, the agreements between Egypt and African countries also emphasize facilitating the access of vaccines to their citizens, due to African confidence in Egypt’s manufacturing capabilities, especially in light of the Egyptian-Chinese cooperation in this field.
In light of the great importance of these forums, it is important to put forward some proposals on strengthening and activating the building of the international forum for cooperation in the field of vaccines, especially with regard to the need to develop some mechanisms and clear concepts so that the participating countries can activate all the recommendations that come out of the meetings, Such as:
First: The necessity of having a specific date for holding the forum’s meetings, and the possibility of holding emergency meetings in accordance with global conditions regarding Covid-19 disease and its mutations.
Second: Working to encourage increased production of vaccines in countries that have technical and technological capabilities to cover demand and access to fair distribution mechanisms.
Third: The need for the participating countries to contribute to overcoming logistical obstacles, in terms of creating the appropriate atmosphere to maintain the effectiveness of vaccines, and helping poor countries to improve the infrastructure for refrigeration and appropriate preservation of vaccines, especially if they do not need a super-cooling degree.
Fourth: Building confidence through education and awareness campaigns and to clarify that vaccines are important and that what has been proven to be successful and approved by the concerned authorities is certainly beneficial.
Fifth: Strengthening cooperation and exchange of experiences between all countries of the world, especially with regard to cooperation in the field of medical research, especially in the areas of prevention and combating Covid-19 and its developments.
Sixth: The necessity of media cooperation in all countries, especially the Belt and Road member states, and also through the China-Arab and China-Africa Cooperation Forum, and work to highlight aspects of cooperation, including the urgent assistance provided by China to about 150 countries and 4 international organizations, and sending more than 26 teams of medical experts to 24 countries with urgent needs, to communicate and advise with them face to face or through video communication.
Extrapolating the words of the participants in the first meeting of the International Cooperation Forum on Corona Virus Vaccines confirms beyond any doubt, and in light of the current data and the current health situation, that all countries of the world still have a lot to do to get rid of the Corona pandemic and its consequences, and that cooperation between countries will contribute to Controlling the virus, which requires the importance of rescuing the affected poor communities until the epidemic recedes and eliminates, and this cannot be achieved without accelerating the pace of vaccination reaching all countries of the world.
In conclusion, the defeat of the Corona pandemic will not take place without a fair distribution of the vaccine, which requires an international collective approach based on teamwork by adopting an integrated system.
