Some countries began to seek COVID-19 vaccins from China

Some countries began to seek COVID-19 vaccins from China.  Due to disputes over vaccine supply issues, some countries have turned to China to seek COVID-19 vaccine supplies.

Since the development of the COVID-19 epidemic, a familiar scene has been staged in Europe.

Last week, a diplomatic conflict almost broke out between the EU and the UK. The reason is that AstraZeneca notified the European Union on January 22 that due to capacity constraints, the supply of COVID-19 vaccines in the first quarter of this year will be reduced by 60%, and will be given priority to the United Kingdom.

The EU’s repeated warnings were invalid, and a dispute broke out on January 29, local time: in the morning, it exposed its contract with AstraZeneca, accusing it of breaching the contract; in the afternoon, it urgently approved the listing of AstraZeneca vaccine to pave the way for the introduction of the vaccine; in the evening, The “Vaccine Defense War” has also been launched to control vaccine exports from the European Union. This move was tantamount to “cutting off” British vaccines (part of AstraZeneca’s vaccines are produced in EU countries) and triggered protests in the UK.

Is this scene a bit familiar? Yes, early last year, when the epidemic began to spread in Europe on a large scale, European countries once staged a “plastic friendship”, including Germany, Italy and other countries, first buckled the masks and then grabbed the disinfection water. It looks ugly. It’s just that, now the competing materials have become vaccines.

The EU’s anxiety is excusable. During the development of AstraZeneca’s vaccines, the European Union invested a lot of money in order to give priority to vaccines in the future, and advance payments have been made. Now that the epidemic situation is pressing, the EU’s progress in vaccination is far behind the United States and the United Kingdom. According to a Reuters report, about 11% of the UK population has received the first dose of the vaccine, compared to only about 2% in the European Union. It’s no wonder that British Prime Minister Johnson ridiculed that it would be “a pity” if Britain stayed in the EU to participate in the EU’s vaccination program.

Previously, due to the sudden reduction of Pfizer vaccine supply in the United States, it has caused high dissatisfaction in 9 European countries including Italy, France, Poland, and Italy even threatened to take Pfizer to court. EFE reported that the delay in delivery of the COVID-19 vaccine is frustrating health authorities in various European countries and making them feel powerless in containing the spread of the virus.

▲This is a COVID-19 vaccine jointly developed by Pfizer Pharmaceuticals Co., Ltd. and German Biotech. Xinhua News Agency

There is no doubt that a “diplomatic war” surrounding the COVID-19 vaccine has already begun, but some countries have played a disgraceful role in it, hoarding and panic buying, without considering other countries that most urgently need the vaccine. For example, the United States, although it is already one of the countries that purchase the most vaccines in the world, has recently purchased an additional 200 million doses. The original promise to Europe will either be delayed or reduced. It can be said that after this epidemic, the United States has completely fallen from the self-proclaimed moral high ground.

The powerful, such as the European Union, are at risk of being “stuck”, and the situation in small countries without the right to speak is even worse. According to the estimates of the Spanish newspaper La Nacional, the average person in the world’s rich countries can get 3.4 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, while the poor countries can only get one dose for every two people. A report recently released by the Economist Intelligence Unit in the United Kingdom showed that at least 85 countries in Africa, Latin America and Asia may not be able to obtain a sufficient scale of vaccines until 2023…

The words of South African President Ramaphosa represent the aspirations of many countries. He said: If only the people of some countries are vaccinated, and the people of other countries are not vaccinated, the world will not be able to escape the virus threat.

Perhaps it is a clear understanding of the reality that Germany has recently turned its sights outside Europe and the United States, and has begun to “show good” to the equally competitive Sino-Russian vaccine. German Health Minister Jens Spann said in an interview with German media on January 31 local time that no matter which country the vaccines are developed and produced in, as long as they are safe and effective, they can help deal with the pandemic of the COVID-19 epidemic. He emphasized that as long as it is approved by the European Union, Germany will not be hindered in using the COVID-19 vaccines from China and Russia.

Before Shi Pan said this publicly, European countries were generally skeptical about the effectiveness of vaccines produced in China and Russia. However, China’s COVID-19 vaccine development process did not skip any test steps. All of this is public. Chinese vaccines are also favored by more and more countries in the world because of their safety and effectiveness, and even entered the European Union. According to the Austrian newspaper “Standard”, the Hungarian Prime Minister Orban did not want to accept the EU-approved vaccines and there may be a temporary supply shortage. Therefore, the country ordered a large number of vaccines “unapproved by the EU” from China and Russia. This also makes Hungary the first EU country to approve the use of China’s COVID-19 vaccine.

According to Russian media reports, Fischer, the head of French vaccine strategy, recently emphasized that “there should be no prejudice regarding the source of the vaccine”. If the safety of the vaccine is confirmed, the EU should “consider” the use of vaccines from Russia and China.

In fact, to completely defeat the virus, international cooperation is still indispensable. It is not realistic to expect which country will be the “savior”. The January 31st editorial of Nihon Keizai Shimbun also stated that international cooperation should be at the core at the moment, and international cooperation and transparency of vaccines should be strengthened so that vaccines can truly benefit mankind.

The good news is that according to relevant Israeli research reports, within 12 days after vaccination, the country’s infection rate has dropped by about 60%. This shows that the vaccine is indeed effective as long as it is used correctly.

(source:internet, reference only)

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