400m vaccine doses to be exported by Chinese firms

China's drugmakers will supply nearly 400 million COVID-19 vaccine doses to countries in Latin America, the Middle East and Asia.

Three Chinese firms – China National Pharmaceutical Group (Sinopharm), Sinovac Biotech and CanSino Biologics – have made those deals, according to public data compiled by both British analytics firm Airfinity and the Duke Global Health Innovation Centre in the US.

China joined COVAX in October as a self-financing country, which helps the facility aid poorer countries. COVAX, or the COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access Facility, aims to accelerate the development and production of vaccines through global cooperation and ensure that all countries can obtain them.

Brazil and Indonesia have both received shipments of Sinovac's candidate in recent weeks. Both countries are running phase 3 trials and have yet to approve the vaccine, whose trial data is expected within days.

This month, Egypt accepted its first batch of a COVID-19 vaccine developed under Sinopharm and shipped from the United Arab Emirates, which ran a clinical trial and approved the vaccine on December 9.

Public vaccinations have already been launched in Abu Dhabi, according to UAE local media reports. Health authorities cited 86 percent efficacy in a phase 3 analysis. Another trial site, Bahrain, has also approved the vaccine.

Other countries with agreements for doses developed by Chinese firms include Mexico, Morocco, Chile, Indonesia, Singapore and Turkey. Indonesia leads in quantity, with 125.5 million doses from Sinovac, 60 million from Sinopharm and 20 million from CanSino.