In his latest address from the White House on September 23, President Joe Biden announced that the USA was going to double its vaccine donation to 1.1 billion – a number larger than the total amount of donations by all other countries collectively.
As part of Biden’s challenge to world leaders to vaccinate 70% of the global population and 70% of each country’s population by 2022, he urged wealthier nations to step in and follow the USA’s example, emphasizing on “donating, not selling” to lower-income countries. Biden further stressed that the donations should be made “with no political strings attached”, in what is being viewed as a jab at rival China.
But when has the United States of America ever done anything “with no political strings attached”?
The USA has historically used countries in the Global South as a pawn in its own wars – be it the War on Terror or the Cold war – under the guise of protecting the citizens of these developing countries and upholding democracy. Hence, President Biden’s latest address seems oddly familiar, in which he said, “America will become the arsenal of vaccines, as we were the arsenal for democracy during World War II”.
The timing of Biden’s announcement seems impeccable especially because earlier in the week, China announced that it had delivered 1.1 billion vaccine doses to 100 countries. Based on past precedent, it is evident that similar to how the US used countries like Afghanistan, Vietnam, Korea as a battlefield in its Cold War against the Soviet Union, the US is using low-income countries as a battlefield in its war for “vaccine diplomacy” against China.
In the address, President Biden also declared a new EU-US partnership to “work more closely on expanding global vaccinations” in the wake of which the EU announced that it was increasing its vaccine donations to 500 million. Ironically though, the G7 countries including the USA and the EU have already purchased one-third of the world’s vaccine supply for their own populations despite accounting for only 13% of the global population.
Earlier in June, Biden promised to donate half a billion Pfizer vaccines to 92 middle and low-income countries including the African Union through COVAX. According to most news outlets, 160 million doses have already been distributed, and the remaining will be supplied in the coming year, as part of Biden’s goal to vaccinate 70% of the global population.
So, why then is the USA suddenly choosing to be more generous?
The answers all lie in the numbers. President Biden has been under scrutiny for encouraging a third vaccine dose for US citizens when fewer than 2% of the populations in developing countries have had their first shot. In some countries, the percentage is even lesser: 0.1% fully vaccinated in Yemen, 0.2% in Haiti, 0.3% in South Sudan, and less than 0.1% in Congo.
Health experts say that a total of 6 to 9 million vaccines are needed to inoculate the developing world. Even if Biden lives up to his promise of 1.1 million vaccines whether out of genuine concern for the developing world or to save face and/ or rival China, they will still be far too little to achieve his goal of vaccinating 70% of the globe.
Sources:
Biden says US donating extra 500 million COVID vaccines. (2021). The Korea Times. https://www.pressreader.com/search?query=biden%20vaccine
Biden pushing rich nations to share vaccine. (2021). Arab News. https://www.pressreader.com/search?query=biden%20vaccine
Holder, J. (2021). Tracking coronavirus vaccinations around the world. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/world/covid-vaccinations-tracker.html
Miller, Z. (2021). Biden announces sharing of vaccinations. Tulsa World. https://www.pressreader.com/search?query=biden%20vaccine
Smith, D. (2021). Biden increases US Covid vaccine donations to 1.1bn. The Guardian. https://www.pressreader.com/search?query=biden%20vaccine