At this month’s UN General Assembly General, Chinese President Xi Jinping pledged to donate 100 million COVID-19 vaccine doses to developing countries by the end of this year through the World Health Organization’s COVAX program. Inside Latin America, this type of “medical diplomacy,” including the sale and donation of masks, ventilators, personal protective equipment and other medical supplies, has played an essential role in pandemic response. Outside Latin America, these deliveries signal that “medical diplomacy” is playing an increasing role in great power competition between the United States, China and Russia.
In “vaccine diplomacy,” the United States was slow out of the gate, sending its first donation of a U.S.-produced vaccine to Latin America in June 2021. Russia (February 2021) and China (March 2021) had both delivered vaccines to the region months earlier. China in particular executed an early and ambitious campaign to sell Sinovac and Sinopharm vaccines in the region, including to Venezuela, in March 2021, El Salvador, in April 2021, and Ecuador, in May 2021.
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