America Continues To Suffer Reputational Damage even as Biden Compliments Trump on Vaccine Development

The White House’s efforts to control COVID-19 have drawn a lot of criticism from the rest of the world and greatly damaged America’s image. Since May 2020, America has poured $12 billion into developing a vaccine and “approved” two candidates, restoring some of its reputation. Even President-elect Joe Biden praised Donald Trump, saying that “the administration deserves some credit getting this off the ground with Operation Warp Speed” and that the vaccine “gives us great hope.”

Objectively speaking, the successful development of the vaccine demonstrated that the U.S. is truly the world’s only superpower. The French newspaper Les Echos says that the U.S. displayed its innovative capacity, wealth, military might and other displays of conventional American power to accomplish a task that not many other countries can match.

However, even after the approval of the two vaccines, other nations are still skeptical of America, and America's reputation is still under scrutiny on the global stage.

Within the U.S., continuous chaos has actually been caused by the distribution of the vaccine. According to The Washington Post, politicians who never abided by quarantine regulations and medical personnel not engaged in virus control all received vaccinations first, even though essential workers are still painfully waiting. Aside from these people who “cut” the line, the rich and powerful in America also got the shot at the expense of others. Others have attempted to reach backdoor deals and lobby the Centers for Disease Control for faster access. As for ordinary Americans, nobody knows when the vaccinations will come.

Behind the chaos rests incurable structural failures built into the American system. American politicians love to boast that every person gets one vote in this country, but the equality declared in the Declaration of Independence fails in actuality. Capital runs American society, and elections are nothing but a game of money. The wealthy class is the privileged one. Since the eruption of COVID-19, inequality in the U.S. became more apparent than ever, from testing to vaccination. This oppressive system led to the tragedy of over, at present, 330,000 American deaths. Now, we can see American inequality from yet another vantage point.

Outside the U.S., skepticism of the country continues. It was the U.S. that first refused to join the WHO’s COVAX effort. After mass production of the vaccine began, America led the developed world in storing vaccines en masse at the expense of developing nations. As for the two vaccines developed by the U.S., they were not designed to benefit humankind. The transportation requirements for them are extremely high. The vaccine developed by Pfizer needs to be stored at -70 degrees Celsius which greatly limits the possibility of developing countries to distribute doses. Obviously, if developing countries want to put a stop to the pandemic, they still cannot count on the United States.

America has mobilized on many fronts in response to the virus, but it has only exhibited its “America First” stance. This shows that America is a country that only cares about its own interests, that it does not act as a superpower should. Even if America miraculously controls the virus, as long as one country still is afflicted by COVID-19, the world will not be at peace, and that includes the United States.

America cannot restore its reputation with these two vaccines. Only once the U.S. cures itself of its inequality and the “America First” disease can hope be restored to the world!