Apart from rendering the entire world grasping for breath, covid-19 has reared its ugly head in the field of geopolitics as well. The development of vaccines has taken place at breakneck speed, but only to fall prey to vaccine politics and nationalism. An international polity characterized by chaos has served to only accentuate the already precarious situation.

Vaccine nationalism is nothing but securing vaccine doses by countries for their citizens, often at the cost of affecting the supplies for others. Many countries, and inevitably rich countries were able to strike deals with vaccine makers such as Johnson and Johnson, Pfizer, and others to supply them with a fixed quantity of doses even before the factories had started producing them.

Vaccine politics has mirrored what occurred in the time of the H1N1 pandemic. Back then, countries such as the US were able to secure doses for their citizens. Australia was even able to block exports of vaccines to other countries. The same situation can be witnessed even today. The US, UK, and the EU were able to strike deals with vaccine manufacturers to pre-book 1.5 billion doses for their citizens. 

After catering to their domestic demands, these countries have gone on to fulfil their geopolitical agendas. Countries such as China, the US, and India have used vaccine supply as a tool to send out political signals. China for example has refused to donate vaccines to Honduras and Guatemala as these countries recognize Taiwan. The US has on its part has donated to Taiwan, even tripling its stated pledge earlier this year. India’s program of Vaccine Maitri (Vaccine Friendship) was also designed to champion itself as a global supplier of vaccines. Russia has also reinforced its influence in the Balkan region with the help of its Sputnik V vaccine.

Countries such as the US were able to secure doses for their citizens.

Vaccine nationalism is harmful because the procurement and distribution of vaccines is not based on the transmission of the disease, but rather on the capacity of the countries to pay for their population. It is an ill-thought-out policy as transmission in the poorer countries is bound to still affect international trade, economic growth, and recovery. The ever-changing nature of the virus means that mutation and the creation of a new strain in poorly vaccinated countries shall cripple other countries as well. The Delta Plus variant is a testament to that.

Vaccine nationalism however might be responsible for accelerating the production of vaccines. As countries are priding themselves on creating the safest and most efficient vaccine possible, the development and R&D of vaccines has received a shot in the arm. However, this argument is quite parochial given the global nature of the disease. The aim of these countries developing vaccines should be not to develop vaccines and then hold other countries ransom for them. In a world where multilateral forums are suffering due to a wave of protectionism, such inward-looking policies do more damage than good. The WHO’s initiative of Covax to create a global bank of vaccines is also suffering due to a lack of donations by countries.

Manoeuvring the fine line in ensuring supplies for domestic audiences and playing a wider role in the international arena is always difficult. If one commits in the international scenario to play a collective role in defeating the disease, it cannot come at the expense of its own citizens. There was a lot of criticism levelled at the Indian government when it was running low on vaccine stocks, after committing to export 60 million doses to other countries. In a lot of ways, this scenario is reminiscent of the frequently cited prisoner’s dilemma example in game theory. Countries are more likely to pick the strategy that would do them good individually before they can commit to doing something for the greater good.

An international polity characterized by mistrust and adversarial relationships has made vaccine deployment trickier and more competitive. The given 

WHO has been accused repeatedly of being slow in responding to the pandemic. Is this inefficiency responsible for the rise of vaccine nationalism?

Should the patents of vaccine manufacturers be waived off to check vaccine nationalism?

China has emerged as a big supplier of vaccines to other countries. Questions are being raised over its efficacy. Should there be a minimum efficacy level set to offset any health problems?

Now that the pandemic is waning, should the major countries enter into a treaty pre-emptively in case there is another pandemic?

The world must learn a lesson on vaccine politics

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