China will provide loans amounting to more than $1 billion to Latin American and Caribbean countries so the can buy COVID-19 vaccines being developed in China that are expected to come online starting in late 2021. At least eight Chinese vaccines, among them Ad5-nCoV, COVID‑19/aAPC and CoronaVac, are known to be in Phase 1, Phase 2 or Phase 3 clinical trials.
The offer was announced Wednesday by Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi during a teleconference with his Latin American counterparts. The countries that took part in the virtual meeting were Argentina, Barbados, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Panama, Peru, Trinidad and Tobago and Uruguay.
China said the virtual meeting consolidated a consensus between China and the Latin American/Caribbean region on jointly fighting the pandemic. It also cemented political mutual trust, upheld multilateralism and built a community with a shared future for the regions.
Mexico's Secretariat of Foreign Affairs said Wang revealed the vaccines being developed by China will be a public benefit of universal access. Wang also said China will designate a loan of $1 billion to support access to the vaccine for countries in the region.
Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador thanked China for the vaccine access loan. He said the region is "very grateful to China, with the Chinese government, the President -- you remember I had the chance to speak to him on the phone -- we asked him for support with medical equipment, there have been many aid flights coming from China.
"There's always been enough equipment supply, medicines, and now there is this offer," said Obrador.
The offer to Latin America is timely because the World Health Organization (WHO) has identified North and South America as the current global epicenter of the raging COVID-19 pandemic.
On July 13, WHO declared the COVID-19 pandemic is raging almost out of control in North and South America, which it said is the global pandemic epicenter. WHO warned the pandemic in the Americas is "going to get worse and worse and worse" until countries in the region take decisive action to stem the spread.
On July 11, WHO said about 143,000 of the world's 230,000 new cases (or 62%) were in North and South America. Of this total, some 57,400 new cases, or 40%, were accounted for by the United States.
WHO said the U.S. and Brazil had 111,319 new COVID-19 cases on July 12, or half of all new cases worldwide. Also on Sunday, the U.S. accounted for 3.4 million out of the world's 13.0 million total COVID-19 cases. Brazil reported 1.87 million cases. The U.S. and Brazil lead the world in the total number of COVID-19 cases.
WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus confirmed the epicenter of the global pandemic remains the Americas, where more than 50% of the world's cases have been recorded.
"It would appear that many countries are losing gains made as proven measures to reduce risk are not implemented or followed," said Dr. Tedros.
The case count in the U.S. and Brazil today is even more horrific. As of Thursday, the world had 15.6 million confirmed cases and 636,000 deaths. The U.S., which leads the world in the number of cases and deaths, reported 4.2 million cases and 147,000 deaths. Brazil has the second highest number of cases at 2.3 million and 84,000 deaths.
Combined, the U.S. and Brazil alone account for 42% of the world's total cases and 36% of the world's total deaths. China ranks number 26 in the world with more than 84,000 cases. It also has 4,600 deaths.
