Follow CGSP on Social Media

Listen to the CGSP Podcast

India, China Lead The Way in Delivering on Vaccine Promises For Non-COVAX Commitments

With the Delta variant spreading rapidly across much of the developing world with an acute shortage of vaccines, new attention is being focused on the promises that wealthy countries have made to provide jabs compared to what they’ve actually delivered. The data tracked by the analytics firm Airfinity accounts for bilateral, non-COVAX donations and the results do not look good for wealthy countries, notably the U.S. and Japan:

  • The U.S. has only delivered about half of the shots promised – 15.8 million of 29.8 million – to 11 nations, from neighbors Canada and Mexico to countries further afield such as Malaysia and South Korea. 
  • Japan’s promise of 30 million jabs to COVAX is yet to arrive, though the country has sent 4.2m of 9.2m planned bilateral donations to four countries – Indonesia, Malaysia, Taiwan, and Vietnam. 

China, according to the report published in The Telegraph newspaper, performed among the best in terms of fulfilling its bilateral vaccine delivery commitments. However, it’s important to note that even though the U.S. and Japan were laggards in the deliveries, the vast majority of their vaccine commitments are through COVAX rather than Chinese or Indian-style bilateral arrangements.

  • Get a daily email packed with the latest China-Africa news and analysis.
  • Read exclusive insights on the key trends shaping China-Africa relations.
  • Full access to the News Feed that provides daily updates on Chinese engagement in Africa and throughout the Global South.

China, Africa and the Global South... find out what’s happening.

Subscribe today for unlimited access.

What is The China-Global South Project?

Independent

The China-Global South Project is passionately independent, non-partisan and does not advocate for any country, company or culture.

News

A carefully curated selection of the day’s most important China-Global South stories. Updated 24 hours a day by human editors. No bots, no algorithms.

Analysis

Diverse, often unconventional insights from scholars, analysts, journalists and a variety of stakeholders in the China-Global South discourse.

Networking

A unique professional network of China-Africa scholars, analysts, journalists and other practioners from around the world.