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<img src="https://cdn.kahimyang.com/resources-10/vaccine-sm.webp" alt="Sinovac and AstraZeneca vaccines" />
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(Sinovac and AstraZeneca vaccines)
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When the vaccine has emerged as the world's best hope to stop the spread of the deadly Covid-19 pandemic that has snuffed out 2.6 million souls so far, the US, the UK and the European Union have cornered and hoarded the vaccines produced within their borders.
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If it is for ulterior motives, that is, to prettify their image and project their power, I wouldn't care: China and Russia have shipped nearly 1 billion doses to over 60 countries, including huge countries hit badly by the pandemic, such as Indonesia, Brazil, Turkey and Chile. Most of China's shipments so far were donations, as in our case.
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In fact, the only vaccines we have been able to secure because of the West's hoarding are 600,000 doses of the Chinese-made Sinovac, and 400,000 of AstraZeneca, made possible by Covax, a global vaccine-sharing facility set up by the World Health Organization and other philanthropic organizations with funding from the world's richest nations. For the Yellows to claim that the Sinovac donation is in exchange for our giving up our South China Sea claims is nauseatingly stupid.
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An Associated Press dispatch reported on March 2: 
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"China's vaccine diplomacy campaign has been a surprising success: It has pledged roughly half a billion doses of its vaccines to more than 45 countries, according to a country-by-country tally by the Associated Press. With just four of China's many vaccine makers claiming they are able to produce at least 2.6 billion doses this year, a large part of the world's population will end up inoculated not with the fancy Western vaccines boasting headline-grabbing efficacy rates, but with China's humble, traditionally made shots."
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In sharp contrast, the US refuses to help even its next-door neighbor. The US daily Newsday reported on March 8: 
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"Just this Monday, the Mexican president asked President Biden to share some of the US vaccine supply, promising to return the favor when Mexico, which has the world's third-highest Covid-19 death toll, receives its contracted deliveries a few months from now. When asked if Biden would grant the request, the White House press secretary replied with a flat no."
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Absurdly selfish
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The US' cousin, Canada, has become the most absurdly selfish country in the world. It has cornered 398 million doses for its population of 37 million, enough to vaccinate eight times the number of its citizens. Not only that. It announced with much fanfare last year that it was contributing $345 million to Covax. It was revealed only recently that it asked Covax that half of that amount was to pay for its vaccine orders.
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I am quoting at length US reports to emphasize I am not exaggerating the West's hoarding. That Newsday article continued:
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"Back in January, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa had sharp words for such vaccine nationalism: 'The rich countries of the world went out and acquired large doses of vaccines from the developers and manufacturers of these vaccines, and some countries have even gone beyond and acquired up to four times what their populations need. … That was aimed at hoarding these vaccines and now this is being done to the exclusion of other countries in the world that most need this.'"
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Ramaphosa wasn't asking for free shots either. He just wanted the West to stop gobbling up the available supply from its companies so doses could be purchased by the African Vaccine Acquisition Task Team."
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Politically difficult
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Nobody denies that it is politically difficult for any leader to send vaccines abroad before every citizen is vaccinated at home. But helping control the pandemic across the world at about the same rate is not just the moral thing to do, it's sensible. It minimizes the death toll and helps reduce the chance of yet more virulent variants appearing.
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It's also, seen properly, good politics. Bloomberg's vaccine tracker illustrates exactly how out of the norm the US' behavior has been. The country has already delivered 24 shots for every 100 Americans. By comparison, China has given 3.7 for every 100 of its residents; Russia 2.7; and India 1.1.
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Yet, unlike Biden, the leaders of India, Russia and China have already begun shipping millions of doses abroad. This week, half a million shots of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine arrived in the Caribbean from India. Some 2 million doses have been delivered to Mexico, with the rest to follow this month. Argentina is getting 20 million doses of Russia's Sputnik-V by the end of March. Chile had ordered 10 million Pfizer shots, but just 150,000 arrived. It had to start immunizations with 4 million Sinovac doses from China and has since gained praise for running one of the world's most efficient vaccine rollout programs.
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China and Russia have shipped nearly 1B doses to over 60 countries; US and West absurdly selfish