For the second week in a row, there’s been very little movement around Chinese vaccine shipments to Africa. It’s not entirely clear what, if anything, is behind the slowdown in deliveries, or if it’s connected to supply constraints due to a massive vaccination drive within China, where 20 million people a day are being inoculated.
A shipment of jabs to the tiny Atlantic island state of Cabo Verde was among the only announcements of deliveries this week. Nonetheless, this donation carries particularly geopolitical importance, given the island state’s strategic location in the Atlantic Ocean, where U.S. military leaders believe China is eager to expand its military presence.