With Vaccine Fairness China And Russia Are Beating The 'West'
November 30, 2021
For a moment I thought that I had caught the Associated Press in reporting a wrong number.
But in fact both headlines are right.
Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday announced that China would provide an additional 1 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines to Africa and pledged to jointly implement nine programs on China-Africa future cooperation.
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To help the African Union (AU) achieve its goal of vaccinating 60 percent of the African population by 2022, President Xi announced that China would provide another one billion doses of vaccines to Africa, including 600 million doses as donation and 400 million doses to be provided through such means as joint production by Chinese companies and relevant African countries."In addition, China will undertake 10 medical and health projects for African countries, and send 1,500 medical personnel and public health experts to Africa," Xi added.
By Nov. 12, 2021, China had provided over 1.7 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines to more than 110 countries and organizations, including 50 African countries and the AU Commission.
Associated Press - China to donate 600 million COVID-19 vaccine doses to Africa
China has pledged to donate 600 million doses of its COVID-19 vaccines to Africa as the world grapples with the unequal distribution of the shots between rich and poor countries.Chinese President Xi Jinping made the promise Monday in a video speech to the opening ceremony of a China-Africa forum on economic cooperation.
He said China will supply 1 billion doses in all. The other 400 million are to come through other routes such as production by Chinese companies in Africa.
Both headline can be justified. While Xinhua highlights the top number the APemphasizes the donation.
China is putting the 'west' to shame with its donations and the additional vaccine doses it distributes. In exchange it will surely receive some good will:
Cavince Adhere, a Kenya-based international relations scholar, said the COVID-19 pandemic has served to highlight the strong partnership between China and Africa in the health sector."China now ranks as the top supplier of COVID-19 vaccines to Africa and a strong advocate for intellectual property liberalization to allow African countries to manufacture the commodities and further save their population and economies from the impacts of the global health crisis," Adhere added.
The 'west' is not only donating or otherwise distributing too little but it is also acting in an extremely egoistic way:
There is a higher percentage of people in rich countries who have received booster shots than have received any vaccination at all in the low-income world.
This while boosters are not necessary except for people in certain risk groups. (The bodies B and T memory cells have been trained during the first and second vaccination and will produce a high number of antibodies should an infection occur.)
That President Biden announced booster for everyone is actually a scandal:
The White House, which claimed to follow the science, did not follow the science but pharma lobbyists. It announced that everyone would get a third shot before the FDA had collected data on third shots, discussed the issue, and made a decision on it.
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The head of the FDA vaccine office and her deputy resigned in protest over the White House announcement as there is not nearly enough data to justify a third vaccine shot. Scientifically there is simply no compelling reason for a third dose. The White House will now have to walk back its statements on the issue.
China has also supported attempts to suspend the patents on the vaccines so that they can be produced everywhere. The U.S. and some European countries are still dragging their feet over it:
Ahead of World Trade Organization meetings next week, 15 human rights and medical groups are urging President Joe Biden to push for an emergency intellectual property waiver for COVID-19 vaccines.In a letter to Biden, they called the waiver “a moral imperative” that would help get more doses of the vaccine to low-income countries.
Though Biden has supported a waiver in the past, advocates — including Doctors Without Borders and Amnesty International — say he hasn’t put enough pressure on pharmaceutical companies and others who want to protect this lucrative IP.
Those calling for a waiver say it’s long overdue.
Compelling companies like Pfizer and Moderna to share vaccine formulas, they say, could have expanded manufacturing in low-income countries — including South Africa and India, which asked for a waiver last year.
In a critique of Biden's Summit for Democracy the Chinese and Russian ambassadors to the U.S. point to where it is lacking:
Democracy is not just about domestic governance; it should also be reflected in international relations. A truly democratic government will support democracy in international relations. It will not foster hegemony and division abroad while building democracy and unity at home. The path to prosperity of nations goes through respectful cooperation with each other, despite some differences in views on particular issues.
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International affairs should be handled in accordance with the principles of extensive consultation, joint contribution, and shared benefits, and decided in the spirit of true multilateralism. There should be a more inclusive global governance, not something like “might makes right.” Seeking supremacy and putting oneself always first are acts of hegemonism and unilateralism, and are obviously anti-democratic.
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Faced with an array of global challenges, countries urgently need to strengthen coordination and cooperation for common progress. Especially today when the international community needs to improve cooperation between all countries to counter the pandemic of COVID-19, foster economic development, and neutralize cross-border threats.China and Russia call on countries: to stop using "value-based diplomacy" to provoke division and confrontation; to practice mutual respect and win-win cooperation in international relations, and to work for harmonious coexistence between countries with different social systems, ideologies, histories, cultures, and development levels.
China and Russia seem to live up to this while the 'west' is regrettably missing.
Posted by b on November 30, 2021 at 17:23 UTC | Permalink