China Has Demanded That The United States Present Evidence Of The COVID-19 Vaccine

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hoa Xuan Doanh. 

US Senator Rick Scott accused China of sabotaging or slowing down the development of the COVID-19 vaccine in Western countries.

China challenges US Senator Rick Scott to present evidence concerning the allegations that Beijing has hindered the development of the COVID-19 vaccine in Western countries, Reuters news agency reported.

Speaking at a press conference on June 8, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said that if Mr. Scott's allegations were truly grounded, Mr. Scott "did not need to hesitate" and should show the proof.

"Because this legislator (Mr. Scott - PV) says he has evidence that shows that China is trying to prevent Western countries from developing vaccines, then let him show evidence."

Ms. Hoa said 

Ms. Hoa also affirmed that developing a vaccine against COVID-19 is not a competition between the two sides of China and the US and hoped that Washington would report honestly about Beijing's vaccine development.

On June 7, in a TV interview, Scott said that:

"China does not want us (i.e. the Western countries) to obtain the vaccine against COVID-19 first."

The US senator also claimed there were "evidence that Beijing is trying to stop or slow us down". Scott declined to clarify the allegations but said he had information from US intelligence.

Earlier, US President Donald Trump and many senior officials in Washington repeatedly criticized the way China handled the COVID-19 pandemic.

U.S. allegations related to the origin of COVID-19, Beijing manipulating the World Health Organization (WHO), the lack of transparency in disease data or the impediment of Taiwan's territory from participating in the global health fight.

China denied all of these allegations and affirmed that it was publicly and transparently reporting disease information. 

COVID-19 broke out in Wuhan City, Hubei Province (China) and has spread to more than 210 countries and territories worldwide, causing disease in more than 7,114,800 people and causing 406,564 deaths, according to the Worldometer statistics  site.

The world is still racing against time to develop a vaccine against COVID-19. Since mid-May, WHO has listed eight vaccine candidates being tested in humans, including four potential vaccines in China, two in the US, one in the UK and one in Germany.

In addition, the director of the Russian Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology Research announced that he could make a vaccine for COVID-19 in August.