The less effectiveness of Chinese vaccines and the rise in infections in Shanghai, Beijing and in the rest of China has affected Xi Jinping’s ‘vaccine diplomacy’.
Chinese vaccines developed by Sinopharm, Sinovac and Cansino Biologics were less favoured by foreign countries compared to those developed by Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson, news agency Nikkei Asia reported.
The three Chinese companies exported 6.78 million doses in April which is 97% less from the peak in September 2021, UNICEF said. Even though there was demand earlier for the first and second doses, there is no demand for the third dose produced by the Chinese vaccine companies amid a global drop in vaccine exports.
Chinese vaccines, according to their own scientists, are not as effective on the Omicron variant, as per a paper authored by researchers from the University of Hong Kong who observed 4,300 people.
China’s vaccination rate is high which indicates that they are not running short on stocks.
Vaccine diplomacy was an effective tool for China to coerce countries into toeing Beijing’s line at international forums.
For example, Nicaragua, a Latin American nation, when it switched its diplomatic relations from Taiwan to China in December 2021, it received 200,000 vaccines less than a week later. This put pressure on Taipei’s allies Honduras, Belize, and Guatemala who were awaiting help from the West and the US.
The US and the West bought vaccines for its own citizens first. China did not vaccinate the elderly, and sent vaccines to impoverished nations to secure their loyalty.
The Biden administration is to be blamed as well. For example, Trinidad and Tobago leadership spoke to the Biden administration about vaccine access for the Caribbean while also speaking to Xi Jinping.
Beijing was first to respond to their request, and according to an Atlantic Council report titled US-China vaccine diplomacy: Lessons from Latin America and the Caribbean, Trinidad and Tobago received a $204 million loan and a total donation of 300,000 Sinopharm vaccines to T&T in May and June 2021 – weeks after prime minister Dr. Keith Rowley spoke to both Biden and Xi.
The paper also points out that despite the US exporting vaccines, China ensured to reach first and it made sure that its donations were discussed by the local media.
Experts speaking to news agency Nikkei Asia said that inactivated vaccines, which make up the vast majority of vaccines produced by China, are less effective compared to the ones developed by Western companies like Pfizer, Moderna and others who use newer mRNA technology.
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