European countries turning to East for vaccines amid supply shortage

European Commission President Von der Leyen admitted on Thursday that, though the EU has announced a doubling of its support to COVAX to 1 billion euros, "vaccine in kind is desperately needed" and EU member states are encouraged to organize donations of vaccines to third-party countries.

Last week, French President Emmanuel Macron made similar comments when he proposed that Western countries transfer 3 to 5 percent of their stock of COVID-19 vaccines to Africa -- a proposal firmly rejected by Washington which said, "the U.S. will not donate any coronavirus vaccine doses to developing countries until there is a plentiful supply of jabs in the U.S.," the Financial Times reported.

The French president called for international efforts to ensure equal access to vaccines against COVID-19, especially in Africa. For him, Chinese and Russian vaccines are necessary for the world to win the "war" against this pandemic.

In a telephone conversation with President Xi Jinping on Thursday, Macron said France appreciates China's positive contribution to international cooperation against the pandemic, especially in helping other countries obtain vaccines at a faster pace, adding that he hopes to strengthen cooperation with China in this regard.

According to media reports, so far, China has provided vaccine assistance to 53 developing countries in need, and exported vaccines to 22 countries. It has also decided to provide 10 million vaccine doses to multilateral vaccine alliance COVAX to meet the urgent needs of developing countries, many of which are in Africa.