BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN (Borneo Bulletin/ANN): Ambassador of the People’s Republic of China to Brunei Darussalam Yu Hong on Tuesday (Feb 9) revealed that China and Brunei Darussalam have been working closely together on the Covid-19 vaccine.
The Chinese Ambassador disclosed this during the year-end media appreciation dinner at The Rizqun International Hotel.
Deputy Permanent Secretary (Civil Service, Welfare, International and Media) at the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) Muhammad Suffian Bungsu, officials from government agencies and local media representatives attended the dinner reception.
The ambassador said, “Health is the primary need when it comes to human survival. In the face of the pandemic, the most urgent demand of each country is nothing more than vaccines.
At the 73rd session of the World Health Assembly, Chinese President Xi Jinping pledged that the Covid-19 vaccine developed and deployed in China, when available, will be a global public good, contributing to the greater accessibility and affordability of vaccines in developing countries.
“China has rolled out the Covid-19 vaccine programme for people deemed at high risk of contracting the disease.
"Despite the huge demand on the home front, considering its 1.4 billion population, the Chinese Government, tackling the global fight against Covid-19 from an overall perspective, stands ready to work with other countries – developing countries in particular – to carry out international cooperation on vaccines, and to provide support and assistance to the best of its ability.
“China is providing vaccine aid to 53 developing countries including Pakistan, and we have exported and are exporting vaccines to 22 countries.
"China also actively participates in the World Health Organization (WHO) -led COVAX and decided to provide 10 million doses of vaccines to the programme, mainly to meet the demand of developing countries.
“China supports domestic companies in conducting joint research and development (R&D) and manufacturing with foreign partners; and in exporting vaccines to countries that are in urgent need, have certified Chinese vaccines, and authorised their emergency use.
"We also support and assist foreign vaccine companies in manufacturing in China, whose vaccines will then be delivered overseas.
“After delivering the country’s donation of vaccines to Pakistan (our first recipient), our donated vaccines also arrived in Cambodia and Laos, a few days ago. The shipment of vaccines we are providing to Equatorial Guinea began yesterday.
"The first batch of vaccines we exported to Peru also arrived the day before yesterday. In the coming days, we will provide vaccines to other countries.”
She said that leaders of countries such as Turkey, Seychelles, Jordan, Indonesia, and Bahrain have publicly administered the Chinese vaccines.
“The Serbian President personally went to the airport to welcome the Chinese vaccine and expressed his willingness to be vaccinated. The Prime Minister of Cambodia and President of Peru also expressed their willingness to be inoculated with China’s vaccine.
“China hopes that the international community will strengthen cooperation to ensure accessibility and affordability of Covid-19 vaccines, so as to ultimately win the joint fight against the virus.
Since the early onset, the availability of vaccines has attracted the attention of the WHO. While it is difficult for developing countries to secure vaccines, certain countries have ordered vaccines several times for their own population.” - Borneo Bulletin/Asia News Network
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