In a wide-ranging interview with Sputnik published Feb. 13, Bolivian Foreign Minister Rogelio Mayta contrasted the generous attitude of Russia and China in making vaccines to developing nations with those of the so-called “civilized” Western nations “which have adopted the practice of hoarding vaccines” and “have even bought more than three times what they really need, forgetting that this [pandemic] situation affects the greater part of the global population.” Mayta pointedly noted that many of the countries that call themselves “civilized” and claim to be showing solidarity with the developing sector “in the course of the pandemic have become exactly the opposite, displaying behavior that runs counter to being `civilized.’” He points to the EU, which he says, has decided to “hoard vaccines or close their borders so that their vaccines can only be used for their own population.”
“If we want to build brotherly nations that show solidarity,” Mayta states, then it will be necessary “to develop a strategy of joint vaccinations ... [yet] governments have in many cases responded with absolutely selfish positions, which speak very little to the humanity and [claims of being] civilized” they say they defend.
Otherwise, Mayta went through a detailed report on President Luis Arce’s campaign to acquire all the vaccine necessary to vaccinate the 7.5 million Bolivians who are eligible to be vaccinated (out of 11 million), and in just three months, has signed contracts for 15 million doses (a combination of Sputnik V, Sinopharm, Pfizer and AstraZeneca). Restoring relations with Russia and China, which the previous, illegal neoliberal government of Jeanine Áñez had effectively broken off, has been key to this effort, he said. Arce also recently spoke with Chinese President Xi Jinping by phone, and Mayta reported that China had donated 100,000 doses of its Sinopharm vaccine, and then sold another 400,000 doses at a “preferential price.”
