A shipment of China-made New Crown (CCP virus) vaccine arrives in a foreign country
Chile, which received the Chinese Kexin vaccine on a large scale, has recently returned to a state of emergency with a national lockdown as the number of confirmed cases has increased rather than decreased. What is happening in Chile, which is supposed to be the world’s top student in vaccination rates? Analysis suggests that behind this crisis in Communist vaccine diplomacy is a combination of the Latin American country’s need for international aid, the Communist Party’s ambition to reverse the epidemic narrative, and the Chilean government’s “big gamble.
The Chilean Epidemic Crisis – After Tens of Millions of Coxin Vaccines
On April 13, the Chilean government released alarming figures on the outbreak. The Chilean Ministry of Health confirmed that the country’s intensive care units (ICUs) are in a “critical situation” as 97% of the beds are occupied by patients with severe cases of the new coronavirus.
According to official figures, the number of confirmed cases of NCC pneumonia in Chile has increased by 11 percent over the past 14 days, with the number of confirmed cases on the same day exceeding even the worst of the outbreak last June. In the richest Latin American country with a population of less than 19 million people on the Pacific side, the new crown outbreak has infected more than 1 million people and killed nearly 25,000.
“If the current measures still do not bring down the outbreak figures, we will have to take other measures.” Chilean Health Minister EnriqueParis said at a press conference on the 13th. In early April, the Chilean government announced the reclosure of its borders and a national lockdown.
What is more confusing and worrying is that Chile is the third country in the world in terms of vaccination rate for the new crown. Since the mass administration began in February, 7.4 million people, or 39 percent of the population, have received at least one dose of the vaccine, and 4.81 million of them have received two doses. Ninety-three percent of the vaccine in Chile is from the Chinese vaccine Sinovac, while the rest is from the US and German vaccine Pfizer.
Now that the epidemic is raging again, people are confused and asking: What is happening in Chile?
Chileans: “We are going through the worst epidemic”
“We are going through the worst situation since the epidemic, as if everything is happening all over again, but even worse, we are about to enter winter.” Mr. and Mrs. Lake, 84 and 82, live in the seaside town of Viña del Mar, about an hour and a half’s drive from the Chilean capital. Sitting in his ocean-view apartment with a view of the Pacific Ocean, Mr. Lake told reporters that Chile has been strictly enforcing new vaccination regulations since April: residents can only leave their homes for two hours twice a week and must apply for permission online in advance. In addition, due to the border closure, Chilean citizens are not allowed to leave the country except in special cases.
“My wife and I received the Coxin vaccine on February 8, I remember very clearly it was a Monday and we were very excited to go to a large soccer stadium with a capacity of more than 50,000 people, the government set up a tent for us to administer the vaccine in order, it only took about thirty minutes to wait, it took only ten seconds to administer, it didn’t hurt at all and the people were in a very high mood.” Mr. Lake, who was trapped in his apartment at this time, felt somewhat more discouraged than he did more than two months ago when he celebrated the arrival of the Chinese vaccine in Chile, “You understand that the country is suffering.”
AFP cited a recent study by the University of Chile (Universidad de Chile) that found the Coxin vaccine was not very protective. The study noted that within 28 days of administering just one dose of the Coxin vaccine, the protection was only 3 percent. Within two weeks after two doses of the Coxin vaccine, protection rose to 27.7 percent, and after two weeks, the effectiveness of protection against the new coronavirus was 56.5 percent.
This figure is very close to the clinical trial results of 54% in Brazil for Coxin recently. By comparison, the Pfizer vaccine’s protective power has been around 95% in multi-country studies.
“Chileans who got the Pfizer vaccine would say they were like winning the lottery, thank the Lord, I got it.” Sascha Hannig, a 26-year-old novelist who lives in the capital Santiago, told reporters that the type of vaccine is arranged by the government, but when her 60-year-old mother got the Pfizer vaccine, her family congratulated her warmly. “People more or less have this feeling that the Chinese-made product is not the most effective ……, and I think this negative perception will worsen after the news of the low efficacy of the Kexin vaccine.”
Gao Fu, director of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, confessed on April 10 that China’s vaccine protection rate is low. He also suggested using several vaccines in alternating vaccination to boost effectiveness. The statement drew international attention, and Gao Fu clarified the following day in China’s official media, the Global Times, that he had been “misunderstood” by the media, saying that the WHO’s requirement for the effectiveness of the new crown vaccine was more than 50 percent, and that he was merely suggesting improvements.
The Chilean government also came out to endorse the protection rate of the Chinese vaccine. Chilean Science Minister Andres Couve said the Coxin vaccine had an 83.7 percent protection rate against hospitalization and serious illness. The Chilean government will continue to administer the Coxin vaccine with the goal of reaching 15 million people, or 80 percent of the population, with herd immunity by the first half of 2021.
A new crown vaccine developed and produced in China
Communist China’s Vaccine Diplomacy Ambitions “No Choice Alternative” in Latin America
The Kexing vaccine, produced by Chinese pharmaceutical companies, uses the traditional “inactivated vaccine” technology, in which a killed pathogen is injected into the body to induce immunity, while the Pfizer and Modena vaccines in the United States are part of the new “ribonucleic acid vaccine” technology, in which a portion of the ribonucleic acid-encoded protein is extracted from the virus to make a new vaccine. The Pfizer and Modena vaccines in the United States are new “RNA vaccines”, which extract part of the RNA-encoded protein from the virus to make a vaccine.
The Coxin vaccine, although less protective, can be stored in conventional refrigerators and easily transported, making it more effective for use in developing countries without adequate cold storage facilities. The Modena vaccine must be stored at -20 degrees Celsius and Pfizer at -70 degrees Celsius.
“The Chinese Communist Party sees a very unique opportunity in vaccine diplomacy,” Margaret Myers, director of the Asia and Latin America program at the nonprofit Inter-American Dialogue, told the station. Margaret Myers, director of the Asia and Latin America Program at the Inter-American Dialogue, a U.S. nonprofit, told the station, “First of all, the Chinese Communist Party has been trying to shape its image to make sure it is not internationally blamed for the pandemic. It’s also an opportunity for the Communist Party to showcase emerging technologies to Latin American countries, as well as to pressure Taiwan’s diplomatic partner Paraguay with vaccines, among other things. Most importantly, you have to realize that what China is doing in this region is often compared to the United States.”
China has provided free vaccine samples to 53 countries and has exported vaccines to at least 22 countries that have placed orders. In February, when massive shipments of Chinese vaccines arrived in Latin America, including Chile, Brazil, Peru, Colombia, Ecuador and Bolivia, Communist Party officials were vociferous in their criticism of “rich countries” like the United States for their inaction on the vaccine needs of developing countries.
On the other side of the world, Peruvian television showed the president of Peru rolling up his sleeves to administer the Chinese vaccine, while Chilean President Sebastián Piñera praised the Chinese vaccine for giving Chileans hope of recovery from the pandemic.
Myers analyzed the Chinese Communist Party’s vaccine diplomacy as more of a “no-choice option” for Latin American countries. “Just like Latin American countries are very eager to invest and Chinese investors are standing there with their money; in vaccines, Latin Americans are interested in vaccines from developed countries but are slow to get ……, and the CCP and Russia are standing at your door with vaccines.”
Medical diplomacy Communist China’s image crisis control in Latin America?
The study found that Latin America’s quick access to Chinese vaccines and medical aid is closely linked to China’s investment in local operations and consolidation of political and business networks over the past decade or so. China’s direct investment in Latin American countries has grown rapidly each year since 2006, and 19 of the 34 Latin American countries have joined the Communist Party’s “Belt and Road Initiative”.
The positive perception of China in Latin American countries has also increased over the past few years due to the job opportunities and economic growth that China has brought there. In Chile, for example, in a 2019 survey conducted by CADEM, an authoritative pollster, on the image of China and the United States in Chile, 51% of respondents asked “Who is a better trade partner for Chile, China or the United States?” Fifty-one percent of respondents chose China for this question. Chileans have a 61 percent favorable opinion of Chinese Communist Party leader Xi Jinping, compared to 30 percent for then-U.S. President Donald Trump.
“The new crown pandemic has dramatically reversed this situation.” Francisco Urdinez, an assistant professor of political science at Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, who has been tracking Chinese influence in Latin America, told the station that in a survey he conducted last year of seven Latin American countries – Chile, Argentina, Uruguay, Mexico, Colombia, Brazil and Peru, found that China’s positive image had declined significantly.
“Anti-China sentiment has risen dramatically, and I was very shocked by the results of this survey. Massive donations of masks, test strips and respirators have not had a positive impact on China’s image in Latin America. The survey results found that the general public associates China with more negative terms such as country of origin of the epidemic and virus.” Udines said the above survey was conducted last May, more than a month after the outbreak began in the Latin American country. He is waiting for the results of a new poll to help determine whether the Communist Party’s “vaccine diplomacy” has turned China’s image around.
Sitting in his small apartment in downtown Santiago, Udinez, like other interviewees in Chile, is starting to get tired of the embargo.
“The truth is that the Chilean government did not communicate well enough to tell the population that they needed to wait another two weeks after the second dose to be immune. It was summer in Chile when the first vaccination was given, and many people started to resume their normal socializing and vacationing, which led to a major (outbreak control) failure.” He mentioned that 2021 is an election year in Chile and that Chilean authorities have placed a big bet on the Chinese vaccine, “The effectiveness of the vaccine is not only about epidemic control, but also about the political lives of those in power.”
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