China Mocks US For Vaccine Donation To Trinidad and Tobago

On Wednesday, China laughed at an official United States Twitter statement announcing a donation of 80 vaccine vials to Trinidad and Tobago. Both countries are currently playing a game of one-upmanship to see who can donate the most COVID-19 vaccines. 

RELATED: US Buys 500M Pfizer Vaccines To Give To Other Nations

80 Vaccine Vials For Trinidad and Tobago

Last Monday, the US Embassy in Port of Spain announced that it is donating 80 vaccine vials of the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine. With each vial containing five to six doses, the total US donation comes down to approximately 400 doses or enough for 200 people. 

Trinidad and Tobago are one of the wealthier countries in the Caribbean, sitting on large reserves of oil and natural gas. As of 2019, the country’s population is at 1.40 million.

Specifically, the US donation will cover less than 1% of Trinidad and Tobago’s population. In contrast, the country received 33,600 doses of COVID-19 vaccines through the COVAX initiative last March.

As of June 2021, the country recorded a total of 29,606 COVID-19 cases, with 20,042 recoveries, and 695 deaths. 

China Mocks US Donation

The US Embassy’s post includes a note that said “We believe that every vaccine counts.” China, through its official news agency, Xinhua, decided to have fun at America’s expense.

It compiled a number of mocking tweets that reacted to the US Embassy message.  Xinhua dealt the first blow by asking “Would this be selected for the Worst Public Relations Award of the Year?”.

Meanwhile, “Chen Weihua, EU bureau chief for China Daily, replied to the US embassy tweet. He noted that the amount “is more like the number of donations to a nursing home, not a whole country.” Xinhua also followed up its post by saying “Little was given, but much was spoken on it.”

Meanwhile, other messages mocked the US donation as well. A user with the name Left Flank Veterans retweeted the US message and attached his own take. “Imagine Imagine bragging about sending 80 vaccines to a country with a population of 1,267,145”.  Another user, misandrogynist, said, “I really really hope they just forgot some zeroes”. 

Dueling For Global Influence

In contrast, China sent 100,000 doses of its Sinopharm vaccine to Trinidad and Tobago last month. Earlier June, the US committed to send around 500 million vaccines to countries around the world.

Meanwhile, China cut in front by donating its locally-made vaccines to emerging countries and trade partners. Including the donations to Trinidad and Tobago, Reuters estimated the total donations of China at 16.82 million. In contrast, the US 

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.

Watch the CNN News where President Joe Biden announces the US will donate 500 million Covid-19 vaccines:

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What do you think of the US Embassy announcement about its 80 vials donation to Trinidad and Tobago? In addition, what do you think of China’s reaction to the tweet?

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