The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention stated that as of Saturday morning, 225,640,460 doses of the coronavirus vaccine had been vaccinated in the United States, and 290,685,655 doses had been distributed.
More than a quarter of Americans (nearly 90 million people) have been fully vaccinated, and the supply is so large that some states have rejected the federal government’s planned delivery.
But in places like Honduras, Victor Guevara is still waiting. The 72-year-old Honduran lawyer wanted to know why the United States did not provide more help, especially when the supply of vaccines in the United States began to exceed demand and the doses approved for use in other parts of the world, but not in the United States, idle.
When talking about the situation in the motherland of Central America, Ms. Guevara said: "We live in a defenseless state at all levels."
Honduras received a trivial 59,000 doses of vaccine for its 10 million people. Similar vaccination gaps have also been found across Africa. The 1.3 billion people on the African continent and parts of Asia have received only 36 million doses of vaccine.
State Department spokesperson Ned Price said in response to questions about the export ban: "The United States is first and foremost an ambitious, effective and successful effort to vaccinate the American people."
In India, the situation is not ideal.
Milind Deora, a Mumbai politician in one of the hardest-hit cities, said: “By stocking vaccines and preventing the export of key raw materials needed to produce vaccines, the United States is undermining the India-US strategic partnership.”
J. Stephen Morrison, senior vice president and director of the Center for Global Health Policy of the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, said that as the United States shifts from scarce vaccines to large numbers, it has the opportunity to "significantly change the outcome of vaccines in the United States." . The next stage is due to the assets we have. "
Biden took office in January, when the virus was raging in the United States, and he responded cautiously to seeking help from abroad.
He concentrated most of the government's vaccination work in the country. He maintained an agreement reached by the Trump administration to require drugmakers that have received US assistance to develop or expand vaccine production to sell their first dose of drugs produced in the country to the US government.
The White House realizes that the rest of the world is watching. Last month, the United States shared 4 million doses of vaccine with neighboring countries Canada and Mexico, and in the past week, Biden stated that these countries will become targets for additional supplies. He also said that Central American countries can get help from the United States for vaccination, although officials have not elaborated on any specific plans.
The lack of global vaccine assistance in the United States has created opportunities for China and Russia. They have pledged to inject millions of doses of domestic vaccines into other countries, although production delays have hindered the delivery of certain supplies. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said this month that China opposes "vaccine nationalism" and that vaccines should become a global public interest.
The United States also faces criticism that it not only accumulates its own stocks, but also prevents other countries from using vaccines, including the use of laws that give Washington broad powers to direct private companies to meet defense needs. .
The 2020 annual report of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services also attracted attention for the section "Combating the Harmful Effects in the Americas", which stated that the U.S. has persuaded Brazil not to buy Russian pills.
There are also concerns that the United States may link vaccine sharing with other diplomatic efforts. Washington provided 2.7 million AstraZeneca shots to the Arab League last month, the same day Mexico announced restrictions on its southern border crossing.
90 million people have been vaccinated, which sounds like a huge number, but compared to the number of people who died from the new crown in the United States, this is far from enough.