The EU has offered free Covid-19 vaccines to China to help Beijing contain a mass outbreak of the illness, an offer promptly rejected by the Chinese government.The offer was made in recent days ahead of a meeting of EU health ministry officials, said a spokesman for the European Commission on Tuesday. The initiative is part of efforts by health commissioner Stella Kyriakides to arrange a European response to the prospect of a wave of infections after Beijing ditched its so-called “zero Covid” policy.
“Commissioner Kyriakides has reached out to her Chinese counterparts to offer solidarity and support, and this includes public health expertise as well as through variant-adapted EU vaccine donations,” said the commission spokesman. China’s foreign ministry on Tuesday said the country did not need European vaccines, citing the “strengthening clinical efficacy” of its “ample” domestic jabs.
“The situation of China’s epidemic prevention and control is on its predicted path and under control,” said foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning. China has relied on its domestically produced Sinovac and Sinopharm vaccines and has yet to deploy western vaccines using mRNA technology at large scale. The World Health Organization on December 21 said China’s current vaccination coverage was insufficient.