China continues to contribute to global vaccine distribution

China has been a steadfast advocate for equitable vaccine distribution around the globe, said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian at a regular press conference on Wednesday.

According to the latest official statement, China has donated or is donating COVID-19 vaccines to 69 developing countries in urgent need and is exporting vaccines to 43 countries. Responding to a UN appeal, China has donated vaccines to peacekeepers from various countries, as of March 10.

Here are the latest updates on China's contributions to global vaccine distribution over the past week.

COVID-19 Global Roundup: More nations embrace Chinese vaccines

COVID-19 Global Roundup: Chinese vaccines, a public good in global anti-pandemic fight

00:45

Gabon, Bahrain and Congo received its first batch of Chinese COVID-19 vaccines

The first batch of donated Sinopharm vaccines arrived in Libreville, the

Gabonese

capital on Friday, and was received by its Prime Minister Rose Christiane Ossouka Raponda, accompanied by two ministers and Chinese Ambassador Hu Changchun, at the airport.

During the receiving ceremony, Gabon's prime minister noted that China was the first country to respond to their request for vaccines.

Also on Friday,

Bahrain

held a handover ceremony the Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine. As one of the first countries to approve vaccines from China for emergency use and registration, Anwaer Habibullah, Chinese ambassador to Bahrain said the purchase reflects Bahrain's trust and support for Chinese vaccines.

Bahrain's Minister of Health Faeqa Saeed Al-Saleh expressed her gratitude to China for its strong support at a critical moment in the country's fight against the pandemic, saying the arrival of Chinese vaccines in Bahrain is of great significance for the country to carry out its vaccination rollout.

The Republic of

Congo

received its first donated Sinopharm vaccines on Wednesday ahead of the vaccination expected on the eve of the scheduled presidential election on March 21.

Congolese Minister of Health Jacqueline Lydia Mikolo, who was accompanied by two other ministers and Chinese Ambassador Ma Fulin at the airport to welcome the cargo, said this is the first batch of COVID-19 vaccines received by her country.

00:21

Mexico and Hungary received follow-up shipments of Chinese vaccines

Mexico

received a third shipment of a million doses of China's Sinovac vaccine on Sunday, in addition to the second shipment of three million doses of active substance needed to make a COVID-19 vaccine developed by Chinese pharmaceutical firm CanSino Biologics.

Mexico has so far received a total of five million doses of active substance from CanSino, and is upping its vaccine orders from China to make up for a vaccine shortfall and would request 22 million more doses after U.S. President Joe Biden

ruled out sharing

vaccines with Mexico in the short term.

Mexico ordered an additional 10 million doses of Sinovac, in addition to the previously ordered 10 million doses, which are due to arrive between March and May. The new order will get to Mexico between May and July.

Mexico will also order 12 million vaccine doses made by the state-backed China National Pharmaceutical Group (Sinopharm) once it has been approved by its health regulator.

On Thursday, a second delivery of China's Sinopharm vaccine arrived in

Hungary

, the only European Union member state to use the jab so far.

Around 450,000 doses landed in Budapest this time, taking the total number of doses delivered to one million.

Hungary received the first batch of 550,000 Sinopharm vaccine doses on February 16.

This is the second of four batches that are expected by the end of May, amounting to five million doses in total. That is enough to inoculate a quarter of Hungary's population.

01:13

New vote of confidence in Chinese vaccine candidates

Namibia has approved the use of six COVID-19 vaccines including candidates from China, announced Namibian health authorities on Thursday.

Zimbabwe

on Tuesday authorized the emergency use of four COVID-19 vaccines, including China's Sinovac and Sinopharm, Russia's Sputnik V and India's Covaxin, Zimbabwean Information Minister Monica Mutsvangwa said.

The nation last month rolled out its COVID-19 vaccination program after receiving a donation of 200,000 doses of shots from Sinopharm.

Ukraine on Tuesday approved the COVID-19 vaccine developed by China's Sinovac, according to its health ministry.

Ukrainian pharmaceutical company Lekhim, one of Sinovac's partners, has an agreement with the manufacturer to deliver five million doses of the vaccine in Ukraine, including 1.9 million via a state procurement scheme.