Members of Congress discussed the potential for US coronavirus vaccines to be vehicles for soft power in the Middle East on Wednesday. “Russia and China have both used vaccine supply as a tool of soft power in the MENA region,” said Humud. “If they go and they find that it’s not the Pfizer vaccine, they go back. So this really is an opportunity for United States ingenuity and industry to step ahead and help our friends in the Middle East and elsewhere,” said Ferguson. Iraq has also received Pfizer doses, and Turkey signed an agreement to import the Pfizer vaccine last month and has been administering it.

Source: The North Africa Journal June 24, 2021 12:39 UTC