There have been several high-profile discussions between Chinese and American medical scientists and doctors on dealing with COVID-19 and stressing the need for international cooperation. On March 2, at the International Epidemic Prevention and Control, the two major figures in the COVID debate in China and the United States, Dr. Zhong Nanshan and Dr. Anthony Fauci, had a lively dialogue on Zoom regarding the epidemic and the need for proliferating vaccines as quickly as possible. Zhong Nanshan said that the new coronavirus is the enemy of all mankind. If the coronavirus is still spreading in individual countries, it will not be possible to control the epidemic in the world. If we want to stop this epidemic, it is necessary for the decision-makers of each country to make appropriate decisions based on science and evidence. Everyone is doing their best, so global unity is needed.
Fauci agreed and said that it is both a moral obligation and a medical necessity. “It is very clear that we must maintain this spirit of solidarity and cooperation, and use this spirit to advance the work of the global health network. Every country should be involved in this process.. We learn from these painful experiences and lessons, ten or twenty years later, we must not forget the experience and lessons.” Fauci said.
Also on March 2, the Brookings Institute and Tsinghua University held a Zoom conference with U.S. and Chinese medical people, including Zhong Nanshan and Zhang Wenhong, director of the Department of Infectious Disease at Huashan Hospital of Fudan University. Zhang said that historically, a pandemic has required global collaboration that transcends politics, and that China and the US as major vaccine producers have the responsibility to implement their own vaccine strategies and also to help with mass immunization in the rest of the world. “We should not just take into account the vaccination by ourselves. We should have taken into account the vaccination of less-developed countries,” Zhang said.
