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Coronavirus pandemic
OpinionComment
Zhou Xiaoming
Zhou Xiaoming

Opinion | Joe Biden’s ‘America first’ vaccine policy is a taste of things to come

  • The US is unwilling to donate vaccine doses to other countries at present, yet it criticises China’s contributions to the global vaccine drive
  • In matters of public health cooperation, the Biden administration is looking a lot like the previous one under Donald Trump

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Illustration: Craig Stephens
Zhou Xiaoming
During a G7 meeting on February 19, US President Joe Biden announced a US$2 billion donation to the Covax Facility, the global effort to provide vaccines for poor countries, with an additional US$2 billion in funding contingent on contributions from other nations. 
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The move was late in coming – and perceived by many as an attempt to repair the United States’ reputation and mend fences with the rest of the world following the Donald Trump presidency. It was, nevertheless, a welcome move, giving a much-needed financial boost to Covax Facility.

Unfortunately, the Biden administration’s other decisions on health cooperation are not endearing the US to the developing world.

For months, the US, together with the European Union and Britain, has opposed a proposal by India and South Africa at the World Trade Organization that intellectual property rules related to Covid-19 vaccines should be temporarily suspended. The waiver would allow drug makers in poor countries to produce generic versions of these vaccines to ensure their citizens’ timely access to vaccines.

And yet, despite the fact that most coronavirus vaccines were developed with government funding or crowdfunded, wealthy nations like the US argue that the waiver would stifle innovation at pharmaceutical companies. This, in effect, robs poor countries of a chance to quickly roll out mass vaccinations, which would result in many avoidable deaths.

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First Covax delivery completed as Ghana receives 600,000 doses of vaccine under WHO-led scheme

First Covax delivery completed as Ghana receives 600,000 doses of vaccine under WHO-led scheme

For this reason, World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus last week blasted those countries for resisting the waiver. Calling on WTO members to waive intellectual property rules and save lives in a once-in-a-century public health crisis, he said: “If not now, when?”

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