The biggest weapon so far in the war with Corona is the vaccine. India's seen China also sent its Kovid vaccine to many countries and there were some countries where vaccination campaign was carried out only with the help of Chinese vaccine made by Sinovac Biotech Ltd. However, after the rapid spread of the delta variant, the effect of this vaccine was greatly reduced and now many countries are competing to buy vaccines from US and European countries instead of Chinese made vaccines. The result of this is clearly visible on the customs data of China. According to this, while China exported vaccine worth $2.48 billion in July, it declined 21 percent to just $1.96 billion in August.
A major reason behind this is that the Covid vaccine made by Pfizer and Moderna was earlier being applied only in rich countries, but gradually now their export has also increased in Asia, Latin America and the Middle East.
Professor Nicholas Thomas of Hong Kong University, who has edited several books on foreign policy and public health, says, 'Apart from medical practitioners, now the general public has also become aware. They too have now come to know the difference of the vaccine. They have also come to know that not all vaccines are the same in terms of safety.
Chinese-made vaccines were found to be 50 to 80 percent effective in clinical trials, but they are far behind mRNA vaccines in providing protection against corona. At the same time, after the arrival of the rapidly spreading delta variant, questions were also raised on the efficacy of the Chinese vaccine.
Thailand was the first country to announce a dose of AstraZeneca to people who had received both doses of the Sinovac vaccine in their country. Thailand has found American or European vaccines to be more effective than Chinese vaccines in many researches.
The situation reached such a point that the citizens of Thailand even started protests against the Chinese vaccine in the country. After this, the Thai government stopped the order of Sinovac and started buying vaccines made by Western countries.
Due to the promise of 1.1 billion mRNA vaccine shots from US President Joe Biden, millions of doses from Europe, the governments of many countries have now reduced their dependence on the Chinese vaccine. At the same time, India has also decided to lift the ban on export of AstraZeneca vaccine from next month.
