Mexico has long looked to its most important ally — the United States — in times of crisis, and its diplomatic campaign for a coronavirus vaccine is no exception.
The governments of both countries have already been marketing still-unproven vaccines around the world, seizing on the likelihood of a global bottleneck to deepen ties abroad and expand their influence at a time when the United States has pulled out of multiple international agreements and shunned the World Health Organization.
seized control of medical supplies to prevent them from being shared or sold abroad. After the antiviral drug Remdesivir showed promise, the United States bought 90% of the global supply.of the vaccine that major companies have pledged to produce, according to the aid organization Oxfam.The United States pre-purchased 800 million doses of various experimental vaccines in a bet that at least one candidate will prove safe and effective.
Even if the effort meets its goals, the countries that benefit will still have to find more vaccine elsewhere. For example, the WHO anticipates that all of Africa will receive about 220 million doses, but that ideally it needs more than a billion.Tom Bollyky, director of the global health program at the Council on Foreign Relations, called COVAX a “heroic effort” that is “swimming against the tide of history.
The deal also calls for Brazil — which has lots of experience manufacturing pharmaceuticals — to help produce the vaccine that it will use.Testing abroad could also help build China build international confidence in its medical research establishment, which has been wracked by a series of vaccine safety scandals.
The vaccine that the Russians are now giving out is a souped up flu vaccine, smoke and mirrors, not a Covid19 vaccine.