China pledges to supply 2 billion global vaccines by end of the year

China’s president on Thursday said his country would provide 2 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines to other nations through this year, as China continues its muscular vaccine diplomacy effort.

In a written statement to a Chinese government-chaired international vaccine cooperation forum, President Xi Jinping said that China would also donate $100 million to COVAX, which is a global program backed by the World Health Organization that provides vaccines to lower-income countries, The New York Times reported.

The Times reported that it was unclear whether the 2 billion doses would be donated by the country or sold.

China has provided far more vaccine doses to other countries than the United States. The donations are seen as a form of soft diplomacy that can lead to alliances on foreign policy and business issues around the world. 

China has already delivered about 770 million doses, said Wang Xiaolong, director general of the Foreign Ministry’s Department of International Economic Affairs, The Associated Press reported.

The White House reported earlier this week that 110 million doses had already been donated by the U.S., the AP noted.

The announcement comes as countries are still struggling to contain the delta variant and others await COVID-19 doses and see high numbers of new cases. 

The United States has seen a surge of new cases amid the spread of the delta variant, worrying officials who hoped that the new variants and new cases would be contained following the rollout of the COVID-19 vaccines earlier this year.

Those worries have prompted U.S. officials to start readying plans for a national COVID-19 booster strategy that is expected to be ready by the Food and Drug Administration by early September.

The World Health Organization has pushed back on booster shots, saying wealthy countries should ensure people in poorer countries are vaccinated first.