China to donate a billion COVID-19 vaccines to Africa - President Xi

China will donate a billion additional COVID-19 vaccines to Africa, President Xi Jinping pledged yesterday when he addressed a China - Africa forum that took place in Senegal.

Xi disclosed that 600 million of the doses will be sent directly while the remaining 400 million will be delivered via investment in vaccine production across the continent.

The event was

Read full articlethe 8th Ministerial Conference of the Forum for China - Africa Cooperation, FOCAC.

China has been a major donor of vaccines to a number of African countries and has also sold doses to others notably to Zimbabwe.

Records indicate that 180 million vaccine doses to Africa are China-made - be it Sinovac or Sinopharm.

With about 7% of Africa's population fully vaccinated, the continent is about the least vaccinated.

Vaccines for countries in the African region have largely been via bilateral donations or via the COVAX facility - a WHO-led vaccine platform pushing for equity in inoculation rollout.

According to reports, the Chinese leader also stated that the Asian giant would encourage Chinese companies to invest $10bn (£7.5bn) in Africa over the next three years.