So far two countries have exited the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic using U.S.-made vaccines (Israel and the United States), while two other countries have seen infection rates rising despite heavy use of Chinese-made vaccines (Chile and Seychelles).
Success of U.S. vaccines
Israel achieved herd immunity by vaccinating almost 60% of its population using the U.S.-made Pfizer vaccine. According to a chart published by Worldometer, the COVID death rate has fallen to almost zero in Israel.
Similarly, the United States exited the pandemic the week of March 20, when just 25% had been vaccinated, compared to 45% today. That was the week when deaths in the United States, according to the "Excess Deaths" statistics published by the CDC, stopped exceeding the threshold of what is considered to be a normal number.
Failure of the Chinese Vaccines
CNBC reported that Chile has been experiencing rising cases of COVID-19 despite having one of the world's best vaccination rates. As Thomas Lifson noted in American Thinker, the CNBC article buried the fact that Chile was using a Chinese vaccine.
A similarly deceptive report came out Wednesday on the Bloomberg website, this time about the Seychelles, where 62% of the population is fully vaccinated, yet COVID cases are still rising. The headline of the story indicated that vaccines in general are ineffective, but, as in the Chile story, buried deep inside was the fact that Seychelles was mostly using a Chinese vaccine.
Vaccine Effectiveness
The two primary U.S.-made vaccines (Modern and Pfizer) use the mRNA technology, which is about 95% effective. The European vaccine (AstraZeneca) uses a spike protein technology that is about 70% effective. The Chinese vaccines (Sinovac and Sinopharm) use a killed viral particles technology that appears to be ineffective.
