Exports of Chinese-made COVID-19 vaccines have dropped significantly this year due to its low effectiveness, especially against new mutations of the virus. At the end of 2020, when the world urgently needed COVID-19 vaccines, China provided a large number of vaccines to low- and middle-income countries in Asia, Latin America, Africa and Eastern Europe. However, according to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the export of COVID-19 vaccine developed and produced by three Chinese companies, Sinopharm, Sinovac and CanSino, dropped to 6.78 million doses in April 2022, a 97 per cent decrease from its peak in September 2021. As of December, the total export volume of China’s vaccines was still as high as 199 million doses. This was boosted by increased transactions on the global mechanism for equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines (COVAX) platform. This year, China’s vaccine exports have plunged, shrinking sharply in the first three months. China is no longer a major supplier on COVAX. According to Airfinity, a British data analysis company, many people who were inoculated with Chinese vaccines for the first two doses in some countries have chosen Pfizer, AstraZeneca, or Moderna for booster shots. Among people who received the Chinese vaccine for their first dose in Pakistan, Indonesia, Bangladesh and Brazil, the percentage of them taking the Chinese vaccine as the third dose decreased by 98 per cent, 93 per cent, 92 per cent, and 74 per cent respectively.
