This is the age of “vaccine diplomacy.” It is also the era of its bitter, mudslinging opposite. For months, Taiwan has been unable to purchase doses of the BioNTech coronavirus vaccine, and the island’s leaders blame “Chinese intervention.

Taiwan wants German vaccines. China may be standing in its way.

British foreign minister Dominic Raab said on Friday there was no doubt some countries were using vaccines as a diplomatic tool to secure influence but Britain did not support so-called vaccine diplomacy.

UK's Dominic Raab: Some countries are using vaccines as a geopolitcal tool

EU leaders on Tuesday welcomed the introduction of a bloc-wide COVID-19 pass that they hope will unlock a tourist surge this summer. The 27 member states want the EU Digital Covid Certificate, to be launched July 1, to turn the page on coronavirus restrictions that have crimped Europeans' cherished freedom of movement.

EU summit welcomes Covid certificate to unlock travel

To federal health officials, asking states Tuesday to suspend use of the Johnson & Johnson coronavirus vaccine until they can investigate six extremely rare but troubling cases of blood clots was an obvious and perhaps unavoidable move.

Did spotlighting a rare potential vaccine side effect put more at risk?