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China’s Global Vaccine Distribution Drive Appears to Have Come to a Halt… At Least For Now

by Eric Olander
People line up to be vaccinated against the Covid-19 coronavirus, outside a residential compound in Beijing on April 8, 2021. LEO RAMIREZ / AFP

China’s once frenetic global vaccine distribution drive appears to have come to a grinding halt, at least temporarily, amid a push to gets jabs into the arms of its own people (photo). As of Sunday, China had inoculated 275 million people domestically.

Internationally, it’s a different story. The once constant bulletins that announced new vaccine deliveries or commitments by governments throughout the Global South to make future purchases are noticeably quiet. Normally, Chinese propaganda outlets and official Twitter accounts eagerly tout each delivery or endorsement, but there’s been a sharp downturn in vaccine messaging on those platforms over the past week.

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