(Yicai) Oct. 23 -- Chinese vaccine manufacturers hope to accelerate the localization of their research, development, production, and sale in countries along the Belt and Road Initiative after successful partnerships on Covid-19 vaccines.

“In the upcoming three to five years, we hope to complete more localized vaccine projects worldwide to provide developing nations, including BRI member countries, with more locally-manufactured and high-quality products, Meng Weining, chairman of the quality management committee of Chinese vaccine maker Sinovac Biotech, said on Oct. 20.

The coronavirus pandemic further improved the capacity of some Chinese vaccine makers to carry out internationalized multi-center clinical trials, said Du Xiangyang, an analyst at the research and development center of Southwest Securities. Chinese firms can invest more in R&D and eye global markets thanks to the rich profits they achieved by producing and selling Covid-19 jabs.

In June 2021, China reached partnerships on Covid-19 vaccines with 28 countries along the BRI, including Afghanistan, Chile, and Vietnam, and encouraged the transfer of technologies from China to these countries to expand their global vaccine production, thus effectively reducing the risk of delaying the product delivery, according to a report recently issued by Shanghai Institutes for International Studies.

China teamed up with more than 20 countries on joint production of Covid-19 vaccines during the pandemic. China National Biotec Group had deals with the United Arab Emirates, Serbia, Morocco, Myanmar, and other countries, Sinovac with Brazil, South Africa, Egypt, Chile, and others, and CanSino Biologics with Mexico and others.

As of Oct. 18, China collectively provided 2.3 billion doses of Covid-19 vaccines to foreign countries and regions.

In addition to supplying production capacity to low-income countries, Chinese vaccine makers should also build up their ability to license out innovative types of vaccines.

Editor: Futura Costaglione