DIARIO DEL PUEBLO digital 2023:02:13.14:52
Chinese vaccines bolster fight against COVID-19
A staff member transports Sinovac COVID-19 vaccines from China at the international airport in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, February 23, 2021. [Foto: Cortesía]
Por Mo Jingxi
A special ceremony to honor China recently held in the Dominican Republic marked the first time the Caribbean nation’s Senate has recognized a foreign government for bringing hope and light to the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.
On February 2, Santiago Zorrilla, vice president of the Senate, conferred a certificate of honor on the then Chinese ambassador to the Dominican Republic, Zhang Run. During the ceremony, he stressed that the country will always remember China’s timely assistance in the darkest hour.
“I received two doses of Chinese vaccines, just like my family members,” Zorrilla recalled to the Xinhua News Agency, adding that China gave the Dominican people hope and helped them return to normality.
Lorraine Hernández, a specialist at a health center in the country’s capital, Santo Domingo, said she was grateful to China for providing vaccines that have helped protect her family.
“The first vaccine that we doctors and health personnel received two years ago was the Chinese Sinovac,” he stressed, emphasizing that Chinese vaccines played a key role in protecting medical personnel and reducing the spread of COVID-19. 19 in the country.
For its part, the embassy of the Dominican Republic in Beijing stressed that millions of Dominicans have benefited from Chinese vaccines.
The embassy told China Daily that the country is grateful to the Chinese government and people for the expedited authorization and export permit of more than 15.7 million doses of Sinovac’s COVID-19 vaccines, which were purchased for national vaccination plan. It also received a donation from China of 50,000 doses produced by Sinopharm, along with means of protection and ventilators.
“When the world was shrouded in the darkness of the pandemic, China stepped forward and offered us help, demonstrating (the spirit of) solidarity and cooperation,” said Dominican Senator Aris Yvan Lorenzo.
Lorenzo, who proposed the motion to honor China, said his proposal received unanimous support from senators from various parties in November.
As of June, more than 120 countries, including the Dominican Republic, and international organizations have received a total of 2.2 billion doses of vaccine from China through donations or purchases.
Since the COVID-19 outbreak, China has upheld the equitable distribution of vaccines and played an active role in bridging the vaccination gap, making crucial contributions to help the world overcome the pandemic at an early date.
“Particularly in 2020 and 2021, when the parent strain and the Delta variant ran rampant globally, Chinese vaccines have helped save numerous lives,” said Yao Jinxiang, an assistant researcher at the Institute for Developing Countries at the Institute of International Studies in China. China.
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(Web editor: Rosa Liu, Zhao Jian)
