Patriots' plane delivers Sinovac to El Salvador

The New England Patriots' team plane has delivered 500,000 Chinese-made COVID vaccines to El Salvador — and in the process inadvertently inserted itself into a testy, geopolitical fight for influence in Latin America. Ambassador Ou Jianhong said China "would always be a friend and partner" of El Salvador. To date, the country has received 2.1 million doses from China but not a single shot from the U.S., its traditional ally and biggest trading partner, as well as home to more than 2 million Salvadoran immigrants. As part of its vaccine diplomacy, China has pledged roughly half a billion doses of its vaccines to more than 45 countries, according to an Associated Press tally.