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Vaccine diplomacy: Doing well by doing right


Yesterday, President Joe Biden announced that the US would buy half a billion doses of the Pfizer COVID vaccine to distribute to poorer nations. Meanwhile, the G7 group of the world's richest nations announced that they will commit to vaccinating 80% of the world's adults by 2022:
Now, of course, this is the right thing to do. The US and its G7 allies have the wealth and reach to get this done. Vaccinating the world means that we can get back to a new normal which doesn't involve years of vaccine protocols. Stalled economic growth in places like Africa can recommence once their populations are vaccinated. It's all a virtuous circle.

While Pres. Biden says that no favors will be asked in return, we won't have to. Spreading largesse to help end a pandemic carries its own weight with those receiving the benefit. Diplomacy runs on "what have you done for me"; the US and the West are about to do a Very Big Thing.

But vaccine diplomacy by the West has another benefit: Stunting Russia and China.

The West will be distributing vaccines the efficacy of which has been proven. The countries receiving these doses can rely that they will work to protect against the virus. Meanwhile China and Russia have been shipping their homegrown vaccines in an effort to build up influence. But their efficacy is in great doubt, as evidenced by the fact that Russian and Chinese citizens aren't rushing to get their domestic jabs. And, of course, unlike with the US offer, the Russian and Chinese "aid" comes with strings immediately attached.

Pres. Biden said that the greatest challenge facing the world's democracies is proving that democracy still is the best form of government in a world with the likes of Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping offering different alternatives. If the world's rich democracies can put this virus back in its container, that will go a long way towards proving that they can act with the speed and purpose of autocracies. The power of example is far stronger than brute power. For all their faults, Western democracies can offer a vision which autocracies can't match.

As always, elections have consequences. The one we just went through is producing good results. It's our job as citizens to keep the train running on time.

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