US-China competition rises on Covid vaccine diplomacy

As we all know, China has been a major coronavirus vaccine supplier to much of the developing world. According to some experts, this effort could bolster China’s global influence and strengthen its ties with other countries.

However, a health governance and policy expert say that the U.S. is now catching up. Remarkably, the White House is laying out plans to donate millions of COVID-19 vaccine doses overseas. Moreover, it seems U.S. President Joe Biden intends to do more.

According to Yanzhong Huang, senior fellow for global health at the Council on Foreign Relations, Beijing is going to face a more formidable competitor.

Huang, a professor at Seton Hall University’s School of Diplomacy and International Relations, announced that in the last few months, China has been a major player in sending coronavirus vaccines to other countries.

He added that that’s especially so when India stopped vaccine exports to prioritize its domestic needs. Additionally, Russia’s supply overseas remains very limited.

Several reports have pointed to the U.S. is increasing its effort to share Covid vaccines globally.

Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines have higher efficacy rates than Chinese vaccines

U.S. President is reportedly set to announce in a speech at the G-7 summit on June 10 that America will purchase 500 million more doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine to share with COVAX, a global vaccine-sharing initiative.

Remarkably, the administration is negotiating with Moderna to secure additional vaccine doses to supply to the world.

Publicly available clinical trial data reveal that the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines have higher efficacy rates (of more than 90%) at preventing coronavirus infections than those developed by Chinese companies.

Questions have arisen over the efficacy of Chinese shots, with countries including Bahrain and Chile reporting a rise in infections despite vaccinating their populations quicker than many countries.

Earlier in June, the WHO announced that the vaccine by Chinese drugmaker Sinovac Biotech prevented symptomatic disease in 51% of those vaccinated and prevented severe coronavirus and hospitalization in 100% of the studied population.