Officials of China and India will discuss the modalities of cooperation to develop COVID-19 vaccine following the proposal by Chinese President Xi Jinping during the BRICS summit, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday.

In his speech at the 12th BRICS summit on Tuesday, Xi had said that the Chinese companies have coordinated with their Russian and Brazilian partners for phase three clinical trials of vaccines.

“We are prepared to cooperate with South Africa and India as well,” he said, addressing the virtual summit, hosted by Russian President Vladimir Putin and attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa.

ALSO READ | Pfizer, BioNtech’s COVID-19 vaccine shows 95% efficacy in final analysis, say companies

“China has joined the COVAX facility and will actively consider providing vaccines to the BRICS countries where there is a need,” Xi said as per PTI.

Questioned about what kind of cooperation China is seeking with India on the development of vaccines, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian told a media briefing, “I believe competent authorities of China and India will have communication and coordination.”

“The Chinese government is willing to make contributions to achieve the accessibility and affordability of vaccine in developing countries and building of a community of health for humankind. China is willing to promote sustained cooperation with other countries on vaccine development and international fight against COVID-19 to defeat the virus at an early date,” he added.

As of November 18, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has said nine candidate vaccines, including two from China, are currently being evaluated for inclusion in the COVAX Facility. The COVAX is co-led by Gavi, an international vaccine alliance, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) and the WHO.

The organisation aims to accelerate the development and manufacture of vaccines.

China has roped in more than a dozen countries, including Brazil, to conduct the final phase trials of Chinese-made experimental COVID-19 vaccines and even started vaccinating thousands of its emergency workers, according to official media reports.

According to Yang Sheng, Deputy Director of the National Medical Products Administration’s drug registration bureau, recently four China-developed COVID-19 vaccines have begun the final stage of human trials overseas after approval from foreign authorities.

The country where the case of the virus infection was first reported has been focusing on developing five types of vaccines, and each method has at least one entering clinical trials.

A total of 11 vaccine candidates are in different stages of testing, Yang said, as per PTI inputs.

So far, the coronavirus has infected more than 54 million people around the globe and over 1.3 million have died.