Chinese pharmaceutical companies will provide 110 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines immediately to participants of the COVAX project, announced the global Vaccine Alliance Gavi on Monday.
The Chinese Sinopharm and Sinovac vaccines have been approved earlier this year by the World Health Organization (WHO) for emergency use.
Gavi announced in a press release that it had signed advance purchase agreements with Sinopharm for its "BBIBP-CorV" inactivated virus vaccine and with Sinovac for its inactivated virus vaccine "CoronaVac".
The agreements, which come at a time when the Delta variant of the virus is posing a rising risk, will begin to make 110 million doses immediately available to participants of the COVAX Facility, the international vaccine supply and distribution facility co-led by WHO, Gavi and other partners, read the press release.
"Thanks to this deal, and because these vaccines have already received WHO Emergency Use Listing, we can move to start supplying doses to countries immediately," said Gavi CEO Seth Berkley.
