Problem: In the article "US-China Vaccine Diplomacy", authors Mará Brizuela De Ávila, Bosco Marti, Riyad Insanally, and Claudia Trevisan compare the U.S. and Chinese approach to vaccine diplomacy in Latin America during the COVID-19 pandemic. Their analysis suggests that during the pandemic, China successfully used vaccine diplomacy to expand its influence in Latin America at the expense of U.S. power and influence in the region.
Do you agree with the authors' claim? Why or why not? What, if anything, could the U.S. government have done differently in Latin America to maintain or expand its influence relative to its rival, China?