By: Zainab Awais

      As the world sees the horrors of the Delta variant spread, countries must also “Contend with the political economy of vaccines where issues of their production, supply and distribution are coming up against global politics and an increasingly unequal world. “ 1 Global demand for vaccines continues to outstrip supply and distribution remains highly inequitable. Countries with the highest incomes are getting vaccinated more than 30 times faster. As the richer countries continue to regain some sort of normal life, poorer countries continue to struggle and find themselves disconnected. Countries like China and Russia rightly depict the rhetoric of global togetherness by being accused of projecting their soft power. Russia is accompanying offers of vaccine or joining production to Eastern Europe and Balkans with soft power messages.  The West is also trying to catch up in the vaccine diplomacy race with the G7 pledging a billion doses by the end of 2021 for poorer countries. European Council President Charles said : “We should not let ourselves be misled by China and Russia, both regimes with less desirable values than ours as they organise highly limited but idly publicised operations to supply the Covid vaccine to others.”

    The vaccine passports and the politics surrounding them, where some countries refuse to accept Chinese and Russian vaccines and where China and Russia don’t accept Western ones, adds to global economic despondency. The EU has recently gone so far as to disallow AstraZeneca made in India for travel purposes in the block. EU countriesAAWAQAQA will only get ¼ of the vaccines they signed up for because, according to AstraZeneca, the United Kingdom put their contract first thus AstraZeneca gave vaccines to the UK first. Nationalism is exacerbating the problem of geopolitizing the Covid19 vaccines. This can be seen in the United States and the United Kingdom because pharmaceutical companies like Pfizer, Moderna and AstraZeneca are providing vaccines to their national firms. According to Joanna Hosa, European Council of Foreign Policy there is an urgency of getting the entire block of 27 member states vaccinated but there are not  enough vaccines. Instances of demonizing politics can be seen in the United Kingdom where Pro-Brexit supporters are highlighting the fact the United Kingdom got the vaccines faster as compared to the EU. National governments are doing anything to satisfy it’s supporters. 

       Vaccines are a global public good that is neither global nor public. According to Antionia Guterres, the UN secretary general said “ That if developed countries think vaccinating their own citizens while neglecting developing nations, they are wrong.  According to the President of South Africa, Cyril Ramaphosa, vaccine hoarding by accounting for the shortages of vaccines for developing countries. Third world countries like South Africa are relying on the mercy of the western world. With the excess of vaccines, the low income countries should give countries that require the vaccine to third world countries that most need it. Additionally Pharmaceutical companies should release their formulary into the market so countries that have the know-how like South Africa can produce vaccines to vaccinate their populations.  COVAX is running behind schedule thus most of the world population will not be vaccinated by the end of 2021. By the looks of it seems that the rich countries are getting vaccinated much faster than the poor countries. 

         The vaccines have become a form of geopolitical soft power, which exacerbates or redesigns the influence of the US, Europe, Russia and China. Newcomers, which account for 70% of the countries, are turning to Russia, China and India for vaccines. Beijing health silk roads are pinging the roads left by the Western monopolies. The first strategic game plan for Europe and the West is to protect their own populations, disclose their vaccines to Africa, Latin America and the Middle East to contain Chinese and Russian vaccines there. Russia may gain inside support to lessen the likelihood of the EU’s sanctions. The US whose vaccination campaign is successfully running ahead of schedule is organizing with other quad members (Australia, India, and Japan) a common initiative to export vaccines in the Indo-Pacific that may counterbalance China's Influence. 

    The second strategic game is around contacts, price, volume, and copyrights happening within advanced economies.  As an early successful investor, the United States wants to protect its return. On the other hand, the EU has been focusing on price and equal distribution. The US is on the road to victory in this geopolitical game. 

      COVAX has been criticized for its population based allocation scheme that does not direct most of its early vaccine supplies to the settings at the greatest risk for otherwise high Covid19 deaths rates. Nations donating COVID19 vaccines bilaterally have done better in prioritizing urgent health needs. G7 policymakers are likely to split the difference between these paths and direct some spare vaccine doses to the COVAX’s population based allocation scheme while utilizing and donating the remaining doses to allies, economic partners, and countries where they have strategic interests. Even though this is understandable from a diplomatic perspective, the broader application of this approach will not support those nations with the greatest need for vaccine doses and will perpetuate global vaccine inequality. Weather donated through COVAX or bilaterally spare COVID19 vaccine doses should be allocated to reduce fatal deaths. 

Citation: 

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