The China Signal - April 25
New additions to The China Signal family
G’day, and welcome to The China Signal! I only have a modest offering of China - Latin America developments for you this week, because our beautiful twins Matilda and Thomas were born last Sunday evening. My wife is recovering very well, and Tilly has been an absolute beauty here with us at home. Tommy is spending a little longer in hospital while his lungs mature, but he has made significant progress in the last few days. Once he's out of hospital, which we hope will be this coming week, he won't look back. My wife and I are overwhelmed with love and pride for them already.
Also, thanks to Dr. Cynthia Watson of the National War College for inviting me to present to a class of her students on Friday April 16. It was extremely humbling to share my analysis on China-Latin America and China-Australia to members of the U.S. military and government with decades of experience.
I’m looking forward to turning more attention to The China Signal next week. Thanks for your understanding!
Vaccine Diplomacy
Brazil 🇧🇷
Brazil's health regulator greenlights trials of new Chinese vaccine - April 19, 2021
Brazilian health regulator Anvisa has authorized clinical trials of a new COVID vaccine developed by China's Sichuan Clover Biopharmaceuticals, according to a statement on Monday.
Anvisa said the company was authorized to conduct Phase II and III trials in Brazil. Sichuan Clover is planning to test the vaccine on 22,000 volunteers in Latin America, South Africa, Belgium, China, Spain, Poland and United Kingdom.
Paraguay 🇵🇾
MOFA Department of Latin American and Caribbean Affairs head Alexander Yui (俞大㵢) said Wednesday (April 21) that Taiwan-Paraguay relations are stable following the arrangement of vaccine shipments. Yui further stated that his country would provide its allies with Taiwan-developed vaccines, which are expected to roll out by July after domestic demand is met.
Taipei has helped Asuncion procure 2 million doses of India's COVAXIN vaccine, with 100,000 already shipped. Benitez said the next batch of 100,000 is expected early next week and that the Pan American Health Organization has confirmed another 134,000 vaccines will arrive on April 26.
Chile 🇨🇱
China vaccines put to real-world test against Covid-19 | South China Morning Post - April 21, 2021
The first large-scale, real-world study of the Sinovac Biotech inactivated vaccine – developed using the virus with its disease-producing capacity removed – found that, while it falls short of the effectiveness of vaccines using cutting edge mRNA technology, it significantly reduces deaths and symptomatic cases.
Answering these questions takes time, but a study of 10.5 million people in Chile found the Sinovac vaccine was 67 per cent effective in preventing symptomatic Covid-19, and 80 per cent effective in preventing deaths – meaning that 100 fatal cases of the disease would have been reduced to just 20 if everyone was vaccinated. The researchers also found the vaccine was around 85 per cent effective at preventing hospitalisations.
“Herd immunity for Covid-19 requires around 70 per cent population immunity, either from natural infections or vaccinations or a combination of the two,” said epidemiologist Ben Cowling from the University of Hong Kong.
“Locations relying on Sinovac vaccine for control of Covid will probably be aiming to vaccinate almost everybody, so that everybody can benefit from direct protection from vaccination,” he said, pointing to the trial and efficacy results from South America.
This means that Latin American countries relying on Sinovac will take longer to achieve herd immunity than other nations using vaccines with higher efficacy. The bar to pandemic recovery is higher, putting more pressure on the ability of Latin American governments to distribute and dispense these vaccines efficiently. The pay-off to China in terms of goodwill and soft power is also harder to achieve, because of these challenges - so long as the current vaccine situation prevails in the region.