Vaccines are a Mirror Reflecting the Nationalism of the U.S.

After the coronavirus pneumonia has raged almost every corner of the world for almost two years, with the efforts of the world, the vaccine has become an effective weapon against the virus as well as its further spread. Thanks to the contributions made by many pharmaceutical companies and governments, several vaccines are now being vaccinated globally to cope with the still severe global Covid-19 epidemic and curb its further development.
 
However, the production and distribution of vaccines has become a global concern because only a few countries have the capacity to produce vaccines, which makes it hard to meet the urgent need of them in a short time. Therefore, global collaboration in this specific field turns out to be a necessity. However, although the global demand for vaccines is huge. The United States, which has always played the role of champions of the world's police and order, has lost its usual elder brother's style at this moment against the background that global collaboration should be enhanced. Driven by nationalism, the United States selfishly hoards vaccines and rejects the demand for vaccines from other countries. These countries even include the United States' friendliest allies like EU. At the same time, various unfair phenomena are not uncommon in the domestic vaccine distribution, resulting more questions about the attitude held by the U.S. government towards the production and distribution of vaccines both in and out its border. Therefore, in the context of the global fight against the Covid-19 epidemic through vaccines, a small vaccine has become a mirror that reflects the essence of American nationalism and selfishness.
 
First of all, the United States, as one of the few countries with the ability to produce coronavirus vaccines, selfishly stockpiles large amounts of vaccines regardless of the severity of the global epidemic. According to the reports released by US media, although the new coronavirus vaccine AstraZeneca has not yet been approved for use in the United States, the US government has forced AstraZeneca to store tens of millions of new vaccines in its factories. In the face of the EU and neighboring countries’ demand for vaccines, the US government forcibly rejected AstraZeneca’s request to lend vaccines to neighboring and ally countries such as the EU and Brazil, stating “We will share it with the rest of the world. " As a matter of fact, the number of vaccines that the United States has now stored can vaccinate 450 million people, which is much higher than the US population of 331 million. Such actions taken by the United States have been criticized by the European Union and other countries as "vaccine nationalism" and many local media in the United States have also stepped up to strongly criticize their country's global vaccine distribution issues.
 
Secondly, even within the United States, the distribution of vaccines is extremely uneven, which does not only lead to the public concerns, but also cause further social problems. Compared with other races, the proportion of white people vaccinated in the United States is the highest. According to statistics from New York, the vaccination rate for whites in New York is three to four times that of other ethnic groups, and this rate is even more higher among the elderly who are prone to the infection of the COVID-19. At the same time, the distribution of vaccines and the way U.S. citizens are vaccinated have caused various chaos in the United States. For example, because vaccine distribution has a serious imbalance between urban and rural areas, the contradiction between urban and rural areas in the United States has deepened. For U.S. urban citizens, they are more likely to get the access to the coronavirus vaccines, but those who are living in the rural areas left uncared. In addition, in the United States, the vaccination rate of wealthy people and government officials is much higher than that of ordinary civilians, because they can easily obtain vaccines with their money and power. What is worse, it is ironic that medical staff working on the frontline who are at a greater risk of infection of Covid-19 are still not be able to get vaccines in the first place. This is also a malformation in the distribution of vaccines in the United States.
 
It can be seen that in the face of the increasing global demand for the COVID-19 vaccine, the United States has chosen to use its usual nationalist style to put its own interests first, which left other countries desperate. Within its own country, the distribution of vaccines also reflects that it is a country where whites, money, and rights are paramount.