Foreign Policy Research Institute A Nation Must Think Before it Acts US should send shots to Taiwan

US should send shots to Taiwan

Taipei Times

As the US’ mass COVID-19 vaccination campaign continues at a record pace, one question under debate is what the administration of US President Joe Biden should do with its extra doses — and especially where to send them.

One country that should be at the top of a donation list is Taiwan, in recognition of the help that it provided to the US at the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic last year.

After weeks of pressure, the Biden administration announced that it is now “looking at options to share American-made AstraZeneca vaccine doses.”

By summer, it is clear that anyone in the US who wants a vaccine would have received one. The US government has purchased 300 million doses each of the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines — enough for 300 million people — plus tens of millions of doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine that are sitting in storage waiting for approval.

Taiwan — which set a gold standard for its COVID-19 response with fewer than 1,200 cases — has been slow to receive and administer vaccine doses. While Taiwan has ordered about 20 million doses from suppliers, more than 58,000 people, mostly healthcare workers, have received at least one dose.

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