COVID-19 spawns vaccine wars | Medical Xpress |

When Australia, India, Japan and the US--countries strategically allied under the so-called Quad (Quadrilateral Security Dialog)--switched focus to fighting COVID-19, it was seen as one more of the several 'proxy wars' spawned by the pandemic.

The 'Quad Vaccine,' announced at a virtual summit of the leaders of the four countries on 12 March, is based on a vaccine developed by the US transnational, Johnson & Johnson, produced by India's Biological E Limited, and funded by the other two partners. The plan is to churn out a billion doses by the end of 2022.

Vishnu Prakash, commentator on security issues and former member of India's diplomatic corps, tells SciDev.Net that the Quad has a "focused agenda of raising the cost of misadventure in the region by any expansionist power".

While Prakash and other commentators carefully refrain from naming any country as the focus of Quad, there is little doubt that the expansionist power in question is China.

Says Pankaj Mohan, a leading academic who specializes in Chinese and East Asian studies: "Chinese media have been vocal against the 'Asian NATO' and, notably, the Global Times on 13 March talked about COVID-19 vaccines being used to weaken China's influence in the whole region."

Srikanth Kondapalli, professor in Chinese studies at the Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, says that while China is acknowledged as 'factory to the world', India has long had an advantage when it came to the manufacture of drugs and vaccines so that it has a reputation for being 'the world's pharmacy'.

FDA and CDC Lift Recommended Pause on Johnson & Johnson (Janssen) COVID-19 Vaccine Use Following Thorough Safety Review

From the diaries ...

J&J Vaccine: Developed at Janssen in Leiden