The global COVID-19 vaccination distributer COVAX will receive more than 100 million doses from the Chinese companies Sinopharm and Sinovac, according to the vaccine alliance Gavi.

"The agreements, which come at a time when the Delta variant is posing a rising risk to health systems, will begin to make 110 million doses immediately available to participants of the COVAX facility, with options for additional doses," said the alliance, which heads the procurement of vaccines for COVAX.

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Sinopharm will provide 60 million doses of its vaccine to COVAX between July and October 2021, with the option to purchase more jabs later in the year. In total, the company has offered 170 million doses of its vaccine.

Sinovac has agreed to a similar scheme, with an initial 50 million doses available between July and September and more available for purchase later on. Altogether, 380 million doses of the Sinovac vaccine will be available between now and the first half of 2022.

Gavi CEO Seth Berkley said he "welcomes today's agreements," and that the alliance would add vaccines to COVAX's portfolio, which already includes 11 vaccines and vaccine candidates, including the Sinopharm and Sinovac jabs.

Both Sinopharm and Sinovac's vaccines have been approved for emergency use by the World Health Organization, one of the backers of COVAX.

COVAX was created to ensure COVID-19 vaccines are available globally, regardless of a country's income. However, it has only distributed 102 million jabs to 135 countries as of July 12 and there is still an extreme disparity when it comes to access to vaccines across the globe.

According to the United Nations, an estimated 70 percent of the population in richer countries has been vaccinated, while the figure is only 1 percent in lower-income countries.

The purchase on Monday, according to Gavi, will "help address immediate and critical gaps in supply."

Gavi's statement added that COVAX's current goal is to deliver 2 billion doses of various vaccines by the start of 2022, 1.8 billion of which will be made available to 92 lower-income countries.