HONG KONG, Feb. 7 (Xinhua) -- China has been racing to help its fellow countries in Asia to fight the coronavirus pandemic with home-developed COVID-19 vaccines, honoring its commitment to making the vaccines a global public good once available.
Pakistan has become the first country to receive China's vaccine aid after a batch of doses developed by China's Sinopharm arrived in the country on Monday from Beijing via a special Pakistan Air Force aircraft.
With over half a million infections and more than 11,000 deaths, the South Asian country is struggling against the second wave of the deadly virus.
In addition to Pakistan, China is providing COVID-19 vaccines to 13 developing countries including Brunei, Nepal, the Philippines, Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos, Sri Lanka, Mongolia, and Palestine in Asia.
From Jakarta to Manila and Kuala Lumpur, more Asian countries are putting their trust in China as they receive, order, or give the green light to the emergency use of Chinese vaccines.
In a YouTube livestream, Indonesian President Joko Widodo on Jan. 13 rolled up his sleeves to receive his first shot of the COVID-19 vaccine developed by Chinese company Sinovac Biotech, kicking off the nation's mass inoculation campaign.
The massive vaccination program would help Indonesia achieve herd immunity after 181.5 million people -- around two-thirds of the country's population -- are inoculated within 15 months, according to Indonesian Deputy Minister of Health Dante Saksono.
The Philippines has secured Sinovac vaccines, with the first batch expected to arrive in February.
China will aid 38 more developing countries in need of COVID-19 vaccines and is actively participating in the World Health Organization's COVAX initiative to provide vaccines through this platform to developing countries.
