OPINION:
The unprecedented wave of COVID-19 now engulfing the world — and extreme and widening global vaccine-access inequities — mean we are in great need of high-level death- and suffering mitigation.
The U.S. should commit to sharing coronavirus vaccine doses immediately and to continue sharing based on ongoing analyses of projected national needs. Given the current escalating vaccine crisis in Taiwan, the U.S. should send shots there.
Taiwan is facing its worst outbreak of the pandemic, with more than 1,000 new local infections in 10 days. Residents, suddenly eager to be vaccinated, are being turned away as authorities ration a supply of about 300,000 vaccine doses for a population of 23 million.
President Biden has promised to send at least 20 million more vaccine doses abroad by the end of June. With a clear strategy and strong leadership, the U.S. government must send coronavirus vaccines to Taiwan, especially since Taiwan has reported more than 700 new domestic infections during the past week. The only vaccines that Taiwan can access are AstraZeneca from the United Nations, and even those have run out.
Now that the U.S. has some vaccines, maybe it would be willing to sell some of them to Taiwan.
KENT WANG
Advisory Commissioner, Overseas Community Affairs Council
Republic of China (Taiwan) in the United States
Potomac Falls, Va.
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