Chinese vaccines boost Africa's fight against COVID-19: Kenyan expert

The arrival of additional doses of China's Sinopharm vaccine in Africa will be a game-changer in the continent's fight against the COVID-19 pandemic while hastening a return to normalcy, a Kenyan expert has said.

NAIROBI -- The arrival of additional doses of China's Sinopharm vaccine in Africa will be a game-changer in the continent's fight against the COVID-19 pandemic while hastening a return to normalcy, a Kenyan expert has said.

Steve Ndegwa, a lecturer at the Nairobi-based United States International University (USIU-Africa), said Chinese vaccine doses boost the mass inoculation against high-risk groups like essential workers, the elderly, and the terminally ill.

"Definitely when vaccines from China come, first of all they are going to be value for money and then they are going to have economies of scale because they are going to be many, because they are a public good," Ndegwa said during a recent interview in Nairobi.

China's donated COVID-19 vaccines started arriving in Africa in line with the Asian nation's pledge to help the continent fight the pandemic that has devastated economies and livelihoods.

"It is going to bring more trust between the two partners and we are going to vaccinate millions of poor people who cannot afford to buy the vaccines from our hospitals," said Ndegwa.

Ndegwa said that confidence about the efficacy and safety of China's COVID-19 vaccine has grown in Africa.

"We are waiting for the Chinese vaccines because we trust them more as Africans. We know that if there is a problem, China can follow up just like they follow up with all these projects that we are sharing," said Ndegwa.

Ndegwa said that Africa is enthusiastic about Chinese vaccines despite acquiring doses elsewhere, adding that Beijing has proved to be dependable in the continent's anti-epidemic war.

"China definitely has been there for Africa, we have received a lot of disposables, drugs to manage the virus, exchanged a lot of notes and gotten a lot of knowledge from China," said Ndegwa.

Ndegwa said that the availability of Chinese vaccines will aid Africa's quest to flatten the curve and embark on economic revival.