Klaus-Dieter Frankenberger

Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung

Call it “America First 2.0,” said Klaus-Dieter Frankenberger. President Biden is so determined that 100 million Americans be inoculated against Covid within his first 100 days in office that he signed an executive order upholding the ban on vaccine exports put in place by former President Trump. No vaccines manufactured in the U.S. are to be sent abroad, not even a single shot from its 30 million–dose stockpile of the AstraZeneca vaccine, which was developed by Oxford University scientists and has yet to be approved for use in America. Meanwhile, Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine, which the European Union advance-purchased in bulk, will not be delivered to us “in the agreed quantity” for many months. Is the U.S. so desperate for shots? No, it has a surplus: Biden just ordered another 100 million Johnson & Johnson doses, which means it will have enough vaccine from approved suppliers to fully inoculate 500 million people—170 million more than live in the U.S.—by the end of the summer. This selfishness leaves the EU, which has been struggling with shortages and manufacturing glitches, out in the cold, and now individual European leaders are letting “China and Russia exploit the vaccine gap politically.” The export ban has proved it doesn’t matter who is president. Instead of supporting allies, America would rather say “every man for himself.”