China Promises To Strengthen International Collaboration On COVID-19 Vaccine

BEIJING: China's science and technology minister on Sunday said that the country will strengthen international cooperation in future COVID-19 clinical vaccine trials, building on earlier collaboration in vaccine development. China is putting all its efforts to develop a vaccine for the coronavirus epidemic that began in Wuhan last year. According to the World Health Organisation data, the Chinese researches are conducting five separate clinical trials on humans. 

President Xi Jinping at the World Health Assembly, last month said that the vaccines that China is developing will become a global public good once they are ready for use and it will be China's contribution to ensuring vaccine accessibility and affordability in developing countries.

Science and Technology Minister Wang Zhigang told a news conference in Beijing that developing a vacccine is the fundamental strategy to overcome the deadly coronavirus.

Wang said that "The rigour of vaccine development has been compared by some scientists to a dance involving precise steps and rehearsals." The process of development of a vaccine for any disease will take time.

National health commission, Ma Xiaowei on Sunday said that, “The Chinese government did not delay or cover up anything. Instead, we have immediately reported virus data and relevant information about the epidemic to the international community and made an important contribution to the prevention and control of the epidemic around the world."

Donald Trump's government has accused China for covering up the coronavirus and he has also launched an international probe into the origin of the virus. However, China denied the Trump's allegations saying that it has kept the world informed about the virus long back.

Republican Senator Rick Scott said that China is slowing down the development of COVID-19 vaccine and is trying to block the development of vaccine in the western countries.

Globally there are more than 6.8 Million COVID-19 cases. The deadly coronavirus has claimed the lives of 397K people. The United States has reported more number of both COVID-19 deaths and infections. Several European countries including France, Italy and Spain have a higher death count.