China mulls production of COVID vaccines in Nigeria

Cui Jianchun, ambassador of the People’s Republic of China to Nigeria, says his country is working on collaboration with Nigeria on the production of COVID vaccines.

Speaking on Tuesday at a roundtable organised by the Centre for China Studies (CCS), Jianchun said China is committed to leading Nigeria and other African countries to become self-reliant in vaccine production.

The event, which held in Abuja, had as its theme, ‘Building an Africa-China Community with a Shared Future in the New Era: Nigeria’s Actions and Contributions’.

According to him, Xi Jinping, Chinese president, had announced at the eighth ministerial meeting of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) that the Chinese government will work with Africa on vaccine production.

Jianchun said vaccine production in Nigeria is “possible and feasible”, adding that it will help to address the immunisation gap in the country.

“At the opening ceremony of the FOCAC conference, President Xi Jinping announced another one billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines to Africa, of which 600 million doses will be in the form of donation, and the other 400 million doses will be jointly produced in Africa by Chinese and African companies,” NAN quoted him as saying.

“This is a powerful message of China and Africa working together to close the immunisation gap.

“We are preparing to do more research to meet the future demands against the pandemic.

“Discussions are underway and the two sides are meeting over how to cooperate in the production line.

“I think that in the coming months, you will know the exact news, the information, on how the two countries can work together.”