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Southeast Asia a priority for Chinese vaccines as Delta fuels surge in Covid-19 cases, Vice-President Wang Qishan says
- Wang tells annual China-Asean Expo that Beijing will give further help as countries try to ramp up vaccinations
- Beijing has already provided 200 million doses to the 10-nation bloc but more are needed
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China’s Vice-President Wang Qishan has said Southeast Asia is a priority for China’s vaccine distribution programme as countries in the region try to boost inoculation rates amid a surge in variant infections.
Wang said that so far China had delivered nearly 200 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines to members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
“China is willing to provide vaccines to Asean countries as a matter of priority, to support the construction of the Asean regional reserve of medical supplies for public health emergencies, and to strengthen international cooperation in vaccine R&D and production distribution,” he told the annual China-Asean Expo in the southwestern Chinese city of Nanning on Friday.
The latest pledge was made at the time when Southeast Asia is grappling with the worst wave of Covid-19 infections since April, driven by the Delta variant, forcing countries to ramp up their own nationwide vaccination programmes.
In Vietnam, one of the worst-hit countries in the region, the health ministry said that all adult residents in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, its two main cities, must receive at least one jab as the country reported an daily average of more than 12,000 new infections despite tight lockdown measures.
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