Chinese media mocks U.S. donation of 80 vaccine vials to Trinidad and
Tobago
Send a link to a friend
[June 16, 2021]
BEIJING (Reuters) - Striking a blow
for China's so-called vaccine diplomacy, state media have mocked the
United States for calling attention to its donation of 80 vials of
COVID-19 vaccines to Trinidad and Tobago.
"Would this be selected for the Worst Public Relations Award of the
Year?" the official Xinhua news agency said on Wednesday in an article
on WeChat, which compiled more than 10 mocking tweets by other social
media users under a U.S. embassy Twitter statement announcing the
donation.
Duelling for global influence, Beijing and Washington have both sought
to garner goodwill by pledging to supply vaccines
to desperate governments amid a global shortage.
Though Washington recently announced expanded efforts, Beijing got a
head start by donating domestically made vaccines to emerging countries.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2021/Jun/16/images/ads/current/graue_21TAHOE_060721.png)
U.S. President Joe Biden said last week that Washington will donate half
a billion doses of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine to the world's poorest
countries, on top of 80 million doses it has already pledged to donate
by the end of June.
On Monday, the U.S. Embassy in Port of Spain said on Twitter that its
donation to Trinidad and Tobago includes 80 vials of the Pfizer vaccine.
Typically, a vial contains five or six doses.
"We believe that every vaccine counts," the embassy said.
[to top of second column]
|
![](../images/061621pics/news_u41.jpg)
Boxes containing the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine are prepared
to be shipped at the Pfizer Global Supply Kalamazoo manufacturing
plant in Portage, Michigan, U.S., December 13, 2020. Morry Gash/Pool
via REUTERS/File Photo
![](../images/ads/current/centraldirect_lda_SPONSOR_2021.png)
Chinese state media outlets including the Global
Times and China Daily took delight at the sarcastic comments
generated by the embassy tweet.
"Little was given, but much was spoken on it," Xinhua said.
In May, China delivered 100,000 donated doses of Sinopharm's vaccine
to Trinidad and Tobago.
Beijing has not disclosed an overall figure for its vaccine
donations, but Reuters calculations based on publicly available data
show that at least 16.82 million doses had been delivered by early
June.
(Reporting by Beijing newsroom; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore)
[© 2021 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2021 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2021/Jun/16/images/ads/current/rohlfs_lda_072017.png) |