BEIJING -- President Xi Jinping on Thursday stressed the need to work together to defend people's lives and health.

"Safety and health are the prerequisite for human development and progress," Xi said while delivering a keynote speech via video at the opening ceremony of the Boao Forum for Asia Annual Conference 2022.

For humanity to clinch a final victory against the COVID-19 pandemic, more hard efforts are needed. It is essential that countries support each other, better coordinate response measures and improve global public health governance, so as to form strong international synergy against the pandemic, Xi said.

"We must keep COVID vaccines a global public good and ensure their accessibility and affordability in developing countries," said Xi.

China has provided over 2.1 billion doses of vaccines to more than 120 countries and international organizations. Be it in delivering vaccines abroad or producing them overseas, China has honored its commitments with concrete actions, Xi said.

China will follow through the pledged donation of 600 million and 150 million doses of vaccines to Africa and ASEAN countries respectively, as part of the effort to close the immunization gap, Xi said.