Vaccines, as Russia and China accelerate
All the latest moves by Russia and China on Covid vaccines. The Point by Giuseppe Gagliano
Both China and Russia – as was to be expected by carefully observing the lines of force of their respective foreign policies – are using Covid to increase their sphere of influence globally and to implement company-wide huge profits related to the sale of vaccines. Let's start with China.
Covid-19 has allowed China to strengthen its geopolitical position in the context of the petromonarchies. In fact, on December 9 the UAE approved the Chinese vaccine known as Sinopharm and produced by the China National Pharmaceutical Group Corporation; Bahrain approved it on 13 December.
This cooperation in such a sensitive sector should come as no surprise: in fact, the UAE not only exported $ 17.4 billion worth of goods to China in 2018, but Bahrain, in 2018 sold 359 million dollars in goods to China, receiving in the same year 1.65 billion dollars in Chinese products. A similar argument can also be made for Kuwait, Oman and Saudi Arabia: these countries sent the largest share of their exports to China in 2018.
However, it should be noted that Sinopharm rated the effectiveness of its vaccine at 79%, which is below the number indicated by Bahraini and Emirati officials earlier this month. The Sinopharm vaccine is also below the standard set by its competitors Moderna and Pfizer, which are more than 90 percent effective.
Through the distribution of the vaccine, China intends to implement a policy of influence mirroring that of Russia and in open political and economic competition with the USA. The Chinese presence in Brazil and Turkey also serves the same purpose despite the fact that they have reported divergent results on another Chinese vaccine, tested by Sinovac Biotech. Indeed, Turkey described the Sinovac vaccine as 91% effective based on limited interim clinical trial results, but Brazil gave a much lower estimate of around 50%.
From a technical point of view, the Sinopharm and Sinovac vaccines also present fewer challenges in relation to both transport and storage methods than the vaccines from Moderna and Pfizer. However, even on the vaccine as well as the military front, the watchword is to diversify: the UAE will inoculate its residents for free with the first batch of Pfizer vaccine and Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and Saudi Arabia are also distributing the Pfizer vaccine. .
If China has been able to act like its competitors this also depends on the fact that the Dragon has implemented a foreign policy in the name of non-interference in the internal affairs of other countries. Similarly, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates, in turn, have not given any political judgment either on China's detention of Uighurs or on the repression of Hong Kong protesters.
We come now to Russia. Argentina will receive the first doses of the Russian Sputnik V vaccine as indicated by the spokesperson of the Ministry of Health Margín Sabignoso during a press conference, the vaccine that has been developed by the Gamaleya Center in collaboration with the Russian Fund for Direct Investments. But also the United Arab Emirates have approved the use of the Russian Sputnik V vaccine on its territory thanks to the investments of the Russian Fund for Direct Investments which is none other than the sovereign fund of Russia established in 2011 by the Russian government. In fact, the Fund has invested and committed 1.7 trillion rubles for this purpose, also thanks to the managerial skills of its CEO Kirill Dmitriev.
Overall, more than 1.5 million people have already been vaccinated with Sputnik V. Furthermore, there are two aspects of extreme significance on the effectiveness of this vaccine: first, the storage temperature (+2 – +8 degrees Celsius), allows for storing it in a normal refrigerator without the need to use complex complementary infrastructures for the cold chain and, secondly, its cost, which is around 10 dollars per dose, makes it available all over the world.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/mondo/vaccini-russia-cina/ on Tue, 26 Jan 2021 10:40:27 +0000.