UAE follows Brazil's lead with plan to make Chinese vaccine

Trust built up

Laura Olivera, a content producer at CCTV Latin America in Sao Paulo, said: "At the beginning of the pandemic, there was a general feeling of mistrust toward all vaccines, (including) Chinese vaccines.

"After the Sao Paulo government closed its agreement with Sinovac and began to produce the vaccines on Brazilian soil, this sentiment, little by little, began to change and the population is relying more and more on vaccines."

Brazil's Fiocruz biomedical center, in Rio de Janeiro, is preparing to fill and finish 2.8 million doses of AstraZeneca's vaccine after receiving the first shipment of active ingredients from China on Saturday.

In the UAE, the National Emergency Crisis and Disaster Management Authority said the country has the ability to deal with the pandemic through a flexible and highly agile model in dealing with any developments.

Cooke said: "This wouldn't be possible without securing large, upfront supplies of the Sinopharm vaccine, which is relatively affordable and accessible compared to several of the other vaccines which have been recently developed."

Sergio Held is a freelance journalist for China Daily.