Biden faces push to engage in "vaccine diplomacy"

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Fri, 2021-03-12 12:03 — mike kraft

Biden faces pressure to distribute vaccines worldwide, while Americans still need them at home Russia and China are winning goodwill by shipping vaccines to needy nations. The Biden administration has been unable to match that because of domestic political pressures and health needs. Anne Gearan, Miriam Berger Washington Post

President Biden faces growing pressure to distribute coronavirus vaccines to other countries in response to aggressive “vaccine diplomacy” campaigns by China and Russia, a step he has until now ruled out while millions of Americans are still urgently seeking immunizations.

China’s efforts in particular will be a focus of a meeting Friday between Biden and the leaders of Australia, India and Japan. Aides say the four leaders may discuss an agreement in principle to pass out vaccine surpluses after their home populations’ needs have essentially been met.

The United States’ authoritarian adversaries — who worry far less about domestic opinion — have the field mostly free for the moment to send vaccines to nations from Mexico to Lebanon to Uzbekistan.

That has sparked a debate within the administration about how to balance national security, humanitarian needs and political concerns. Activists and experts warn that the United States could be missing a unique opportunity to regain worldwide influence after the isolationism of the Trump years.

J. Stephen Morrison, director of the Global Health Policy Center at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said the Biden administration should not underestimate the risk of losing out in a soft-power contest that authoritarian nations could exploit for years.

“The Chinese and the Russians are advancing their vaccine diplomacy and are winning friends and influencing people and expanding their sphere of influence,” he said.

Beijing, for example, has promised to deliver Chinese-made vaccines to more than 50 nations, including nuclear-armed Pakistan, whose cooperation is key to a successful U.S. military withdrawal from Afghanistan, and the Philippines, an anchor for U.S. operations in Southeast Asia and traditionally a bulwark against Chinese military expansion.

Russia is pushing hard to raise the profile of its homegrown Sputnik V vaccine by pursuing numerous licensing deals. Russian vaccine backers signed an agreement Tuesday that could pave the way for production in Italy, a potentially big step in expanding Moscow’s efforts into the West. ...

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