Opinion | Is China profiteering from vaccine deals? That’s just an absurd American claim

Name: WHO approves Sinovac Biotech’s coronavirus vaccine for emergency use
Uploaded: 2021-07-29T01:15:17.000Z
Duration: 1 min 30 s
Description: WHO approves Sinovac Biotech’s coronavirus vaccine for emergency use

The recent global vaccine alliance deals signed with Chinese companies has some US politicians and pundits crying foul

It’s bad enough to allege that a Chinese ‘scheme’ aims to profiteer from a pandemic. It’s worse to stoke fear that China is pocketing US taxpayers’ money

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Sri Lankan Army Medical Corps personnel give people the Sinopharm Covid-19 vaccine in a public park in Colombo, Sri Lanka, on July 5. Gavi, the global vaccine alliance, has signed purchase agreements for 11 vaccines, including China’s Sinopharm and Sinovac. Photo: EPA-EFE

Liu Xin

Published: 9:15am, 29 Jul 2021Updated: 9:15am, 29 Jul 2021

Is China profiteering through a multilateral Covid-19 vaccine programme and pocketing US taxpayers’ money? That claim has been made by some American politicians and pundits, and it sounds like a juicy scandal – but is it the real story here?

Gavi, the global vaccine alliance, recently signed deals with Chinese companies Sinopharm and Sinovac to purchase their Covid-19 vaccines. This means securing up to 550 million doses for people around the world.

The doses will be circulated through the Covax Facility, the multilateral effort co-led by Gavi and the World Health Organization to ensure the equitable distribution of vaccines. The current goal is to deliver 2 billion doses worldwide in 2021, and 1.8 billion doses to 92 lower-income economies by early next year.

But the agreements have triggered immediate displeasure in some quarters in the US, and a drumbeat that, since China has not donated cash or vaccines to Covax, it should have provided the shots for free. Also, because Washington contributes financially to Gavi, it apparently means that US taxpayers are funding “Beijing’s scheme”.

First, let’s understand how Covax works. Before vaccines are included in the portfolio, they should be approved for emergency use by the WHO or WHO-recognised authorities. The shots are obtained through purchase deals, signed between Gavi and drug companies, not governments.

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WHO approves Sinovac Biotech’s coronavirus vaccine for emergency use

Previously, Gavi had signed such deals with producers of nine vaccines or vaccine candidates, including AstraZeneca/Oxford, Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna. When Gavi signed up the Chinese companies after their shots were certified by the WHO in May and June this year, it was following standard practice.