By the end of 2021, China had shipped almost 1.3 billion COVID-19 vaccine doses to developing countries, surpassing the number of doses supplied by the COVAX global vaccine-sharing program, according to the independent, nonprofit Health Policy Watch.

By contrast, the World Health Organization (WHO)-backed COVAX program had supplied approximately 1.1 billion vaccine doses as of late January, despite initially projecting it would ship 2 billion doses by the end of 2021.

Unlike COVAX, China has supplied doses to 115 countries mainly through sales of its vaccines while COVAX has employed a combination of sales and donations to developing nations and has largely been providing the countries with Western-made vaccines.

China has been distributing its four domestic-produced COVID-19 shots through bilateral deals with individual nations. These include the Sinovac and Sinopharm vaccines, which have both been listed for emergency use by the WHO.