Sen. Ben Sasse, Republican of Nebraska, says “The Biden administration wants to surrender America’s Covid-19 vaccine technology to anyone who wants it—including China. That is the substance of the May 5 announcement that the U.S. will enter into negotiations at the World Trade Organization to waive the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of International Property Rights for Covid vaccine technology.

Sasse says “The technology at the heart of our vaccines is the result of decades of American investment and labor, and it’s a leg up on the next global health crisis. Ceding this advantage to the Chinese Communist Party all but guarantees that we will lose the next vaccine race… China’s corrupt leadership won’t need to hack our databases; they’ll simply use our freely surrendered technological advances to undermine us abroad.”

Sasse continues, “There’s a better way…The administration should make vaccine diplomacy the State Department’s top budget priority and begin working with pharmaceutical companies on cost-sharing agreements…The State Department can spearhead an information blitz that reminds government leaders every vaccine dose taken from the Chinese Communist Party has dangers and strings attached, but America offers an immediate solution.”

After going through the steps we would need to take to sideline the Chinese Communist Party,  Sasse  concludes: “The message is simple: Americans are here to help. Uncle Sam, not Chairman Xi, can end Covid-19.”

This is a bold and imaginative idea, and it sure beats giving our technology away to our opponents.