As wealthier nations seek to flex their diplomatic muscle through vaccine diplomacy, there’s an obvious upside beyond saving lives: it will help restore travel faster.
Vaccine Diplomacy Will Help More Rapidly Resume International Travel
As the United States waits for regulators to approve the AstraZeneca vaccine, the Biden Administration will ship doses to Canada and Mexico. China has sent huge shipments of its Sinovac vaccine to Indonesia, Serbia, and Turkey among many other nations. Sputnik V, the Russian vaccine, is in use in Argentina and Hungary.
Working via the Word Health Organization and African Union, India has donated the AstraZeneca jab to many developing nations in Africa, including:
- Botswana
- DR Congo
- eSwatini
- Ghana
- Ivory Coast
- Kenya
- Mauritius
- Mozambique
- Rwanda
- Senegal
- Seychelles
- Uganda
These moves are not necessarily out of altruism. China and India are enemies and court nations strategically. Russia has attempted to gain a strategic foothold in Europe via its vaccine. China eyes influence around the globe through its vaccine donations. Western powers are slower to the game, with the European Union falling dangerously behind in vaccinating in its own citizens, but the United States has now vaccinated about 1/3 of its population and is starting to share vaccines with other nations.
Obviously, wealthier nations are going to give priority to their own citizens–that’s just the way the world works. But more nations are recognizing that sharing the vaccine is good for them too. Conceptually, vaccinating vulnerable populations around the world makes new strains of the virus less likely to develop. It also builds alliances and will lead to borders re-opening quickly.
The point is simple: every vaccination is a step closer toward returning to normal and as travelers, we should celebrate the recent surge in vaccine diplomacy not only because it will save lives, but because it will restore travel.
CONCLUSION
The world is moving in the right direction in terms of both ramping up vaccine production and sharing it with those who need it most. We can be altruistic and practical at the same time: sharing the virus with vulnerable populations in developing nations will help those in great need, more quickly control this virus, and lead to a faster restoration of travel.
Vaccines are not fungible now. I could not even give up my vaccine to my mother. But vaccine diplomacy is an important tool of statecraft and it serves a constellation of interest to slow the virus. It’s time to start doing so more aggressively.
Read the BBC report about how the UK and the USA are said to be actively blocking attempts to get the vaccines to developing countries. While I have no idea about the veracity of the claims, it would surprise no one. The West has not covered itself in glory with its half-arsed approach to getting a reasonably equitable distribution.
Australia was very slow to act upon the emerging crisis in Papua New Guinea, amounting to a fundamental failure of intelligence and diplomacy.
The winner is China ( at least in Asia and large parts of Africa): very actively distributing the Sinovac ( and not at usurious rates), as those countries have been unable to secure supplies elsewhere ( …as some western countries contract for 5 or 10 times their actual need).
@paolo It seems fitting that China should be held accountable for providing as much vaccine as it can to developing countries. It was their coverup and playing down of Covid in late 2019 that led to this mess worldwide. Thus, I don’t think anyone is looking towards China as a “winner” in this. If anything most nations are just looking to do whatever it takes to get shots in arms and to end this. Once things calm down I think China will need to answer to the world for what they did, and provide assurances and oversight to make sure it never happens again. They are no hero. By any means.
I’m with Stuart. If China is seen as some sort of hero then that’s a level of total delusion in which there is no return to reasonable sense. China, if anything, needs to be doing even more for all countries worldwide.
The US has behaved disgracefully overriding valid contracts to horde for itself (look at poor Canada which has been hung out to dry) and the EU is threatening to do the same.
Have fun reading the article below. It is for sure controversial but it opens our eyes for many things that happened during this pandemic.
https://www.hartgroup.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/HART-COVID-EVIDENCE-REVIEW.pdf
BTW, for the haters, I did not write it so avoid shooting the messenger.
The US is not waiting for regulators to approve the vaccine per se, as Astra Zeneca has not asked for approval yet in the US, hence the reason for allowing it to be “borrowed”. It has already been approved for use in Canada and Mexico/
@Paolo
The US, UK and EU paid for and developed the most effective vaccines. Why is it wrong that they should want to control their distribution rather than have “progressive proposals” (as they are referred to in the article) to sidestep patent laws? The BBC report hardly lays out a damning case. It merely throws out an inflammatory, click-baity headline. If you believe you are entitled to the work of others, you’d better have a very good justification for it. Otherwise, you are no better than a thief.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-56465395
I’m not suggesting that China deserves to be viewed positively in this matter; far from it. But the reality is they’ve largely overcome the stigma of being the source of the problem and, at least in Asia and Africa ( + parts of South America), they’re now viewed as being part of the solution, if not a saviour. And of course this is in the context of the French farce/keystone cops/ yes minister incompetence/bellicosity from the likes of Macron/ Johnson/ Von der Leyden/Draghi.
“… United States has now vaccinated about 1/3 of its population and is starting to share vaccines with other nations.”
I believe the latest statistics show that we have administered a little north of 120 million doses, full vaccinations requires two doses of the most commonly available vaccines we have, so I think we’re at closer to 1/6 the population? Hopefully we get to 1/3 or more by the end of April.
US doing the same. Donating to the third world counties; Canada and Mexico.