Chinese Coronavirus Vaccine: How China Fails in “Vaccine Diplomacy” | World news

NEW DELHI: Amid widespread criticism for its mismanagement of the Covid-19 epidemic, China has strived to change the global discourse through ‘vaccine diplomacy’. However, the lack of public data on its Covid vaccines, promising alternatives and a snub from ASEAN allies have indicated that most countries around the world may choose not to take the ambitious’ silk road of health. »Traced by China.
The first hiccups came recently when questions arose about the effectiveness of China’s favorite vaccine candidate following early clinical trials.
The results revealed that while Sinovac Biotech’s investigational vaccine “CoronaVac” elicited an immune response, the level of antibodies produced was lower than in people who had recovered from the disease. The “moderate results” contrast sharply with US companies Moderna and Pfizer reporting their candidates over 90% effective in late stage trials.

Even other top candidates presented more promising data. The Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine candidate has an overall efficacy rate of 70% while Russia claims its Sputnik V vaccine is 92% effective.
Additionally, Chinese drug makers are being criticized for not releasing clinical data from vaccine studies, and pressure is mounting to prove the candidates are indeed effective.
In addition, China is also lagging behind in the global race to supply vaccines, with most countries having already pre-booked injections from other top candidates by AstraZeneca, Novavax, Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson.

But what has really been a setback for Chinese vaccination diplomacy is the cold shoulder of ASEAN members.
According to the IANS news agency, some of the main members of Asean have distanced themselves from Chinese vaccines despite a major push from senior officials with the promise of “priority delivery”.
Reports in Hong Kong and Singapore newspapers claimed that as a counterpart for the vaccine, Asean members had been asked to support China at the World Health Organization (WHO) because she was facing the heat for hiding information about the highly contagious. coronavirus.
Citing a source familiar with Li’s meeting with ASEAN leaders, a reporter for China’s Xinhua News Agency posted on his Weibo account that Li had made ASEAN’s support to the WHO a condition prior to assistance to fight Covid-19.

Thailand and the Philippines recently signed agreements to purchase millions of doses of the vaccine developed by AstraZeneca in collaboration with the University of Oxford. Likewise, Malaysia has signed an agreement with the American company Pfizer to obtain 12.8 million doses for 20% of its population.
Brazil, which has the third highest number of cases in the world, is also taking a cautious approach with the Chinese vaccine. President Jair Bolsonaro, a staunch critic of China, has openly attacked the vaccine for lack of credibility and it remains unclear whether the federal government will include it in its national immunization schedule.
India offers hope
Even as China faces obstacles in its attempts to conquer the vaccine market, India’s “drug diplomacy” offers hope to countries around the world.
In his address to the United Nations General Assembly, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said India’s vaccine production capacity would be used to help all of humanity fight the Covid-19 crisis. The government allowed drug makers to export some of the vaccines after they were approved for production.
AstraZeneca has signed an agreement with Serum of Institute of India for the production of its candidate vaccine Covid, which will also be exported to other countries in Asia and Africa.
Serum has already signed a pact to deliver 3 crore doses to Bangladesh. Meanwhile, during his recent visit to Nepal, Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla said India will meet Nepal’s vaccine needs once production ramps up.