Turkey, Brazil Suffer As China Falters On Vaccine Promise

Though China has made big promises over its vaccine diplomacy, concerns over the efficacy of its vaccine and repeated delays of shipments to other nations are denting their fight against COVID-19.

This is better exemplified when parts of Turkey’s vaccination network almost came to a halt as hospitals and clinics were forced to turn away patients, Washington Post reported citing Sebnem Korur Fincanci, president of the Turkish Medical Association.

China’s export of millions of vaccine doses has come amid doubts over the efficacy of its vaccines and concerns by industry analysts about whether its production capacity will be able to keep up with an ever-expanding list of overseas customers.

While Egypt has received only a tiny percentage of its vaccine order from China, Brazil, which has the second-highest number of COVID-19 deaths in the world, has pleaded with Beijing to send more vaccine doses.

In Turkey, delayed shipments have forced the government to repeatedly revise its vaccination timetable at a time when infections have soared to record highs, which prompted President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to publicly scold Beijing and vent out the government’s frustations, according to Washington Post.

“This is not enough. We have an agreement for 100 million between us,” he told reporters.

A Turkish official said that if China overpromises, Turkey would be more cautious in the future.

Meanwhile, suspicion has emerged that China was intentionally delaying vaccine shipments to pressure Ankara to extradite Uyghurs living in Turkey, although it was denied by Turkish and Chinese officials, according to Washington Post.

As infection rates and deaths have risen, Turkey officials are now looking to find alternatives to Sinovac. Several domestic vaccines are in development, and health officials recently announced they had procured more than four million doses from Pfizer.

China’s efforts have also been hampered by the refusal of its pharmaceutical companies to release data on the efficacy of their vaccines.

China has been criticised widely across the world for its alleged role in the spread of the novel coronavirus that has infected over 133 people across the globe and claimed more than 2.8 million lives. (ANI)