DOCSLIB.ORG

COVID-19 and the Global Vaccine Race

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
COVID-19 and the Global Vaccine Race COVID-19 and the Global Vaccine Race © 2021 IAI by Lorenza Errighi If 2020 was the year of “mask the world population in a timeframe of diplomacy”, as countries raced to tackle 12 to 18 months. ISSN 2532-6570 the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus and acquire the necessary protective In this context, COVID vaccines emerge gear and equipment, 2021 is likely to as instruments of soft power, as they be remembered as the year of “vaccine symbolise, on the one hand, scientific diplomacy”. Growing competition and technological supremacy and, on between states to secure the necessary the other, means to support existing and quantities of vaccines to inoculate emerging foreign policy partnerships their population has already become an and alliances with relevant geopolitical established feature of the post-COVID implications. From their experimentation international system and such trends in laboratories, to their purchase and are only likely to increase in the near distribution, the vaccine has emerged future. as a significant tool for competition between powers, often associated It normally takes up to a decade to with the promotion of competing transition from the development and developmental and governance models testing of a vaccine in a laboratory across third countries. to its large-scale global distribution. Despite current challenges, the speed Indeed, the name given to Russia’s of COVID-19 vaccination campaigns vaccine, the “Sputnik V”, is purposely is unprecedented. To put an end to the meant to evoke the Soviet Union’s current pandemic – which in one year early achievements in the Cold War has led to the loss of 2.6 million lives and space race against the United States triggered the worst economic recession in the late 1950s, and offers evidence since the Second World War – the goal of Moscow’s efforts to employ the is to ensure the widest immunisation of vaccine as an instrument of external Lorenza Errighi works at the Policy Planning Unit, Secretariat-General, of the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation. Any view or opinion expressed IAI COMMENTARIES 21 | 19 - MARCH 2021 21 | 19 - MARCH IAI COMMENTARIES in this paper belong solely to the author and do not necessarily reflect the position of the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation. 1 COVID-19 and the Global Vaccine Race influence. China, meanwhile, quickly The United States, currently the main sought to develop a global vaccine country for the production of COVID distribution strategy from the onset vaccines in the world, has benefited of the crisis, involving key partners in from “Operation Warp Speed”, a public- the framework of the Belt and Road private initiative launched in May Initiative and beyond. 2020 by the Trump administration, which provided over 12 billion dollars Against this backdrop, and with funding for research and development 2 © 2021 IAI growing competition over the vaccine of a vaccine. Meanwhile in China, the also now present in Europe and between state-owned conglomerate Sinopharm the EU and the UK, it is clear that three has been one of the major actors behind segments of geopolitical competition the Chinese vaccine development are emerging in the current global race. In the Russian Federation, the vaccine race. sovereign Russian Direct Investment Fund supported the development in The race to develop record time of a vaccine produced by the Gamaleya Institute, later named ISSN 2532-6570 In the “race to develop”, countries try to “Sputnik V”. establish themselves as world powers with their capacity to develop a locally Other important tools to mobilise produced vaccine, a sign of scientific resources for vaccine development and technological superiority and have been Advance Purchase of strategic autonomy. The current Agreements, which are at the core of vaccine development race has been the European Vaccine Strategy and facilitated by massive government cover part of the upfront costs faced by financing schemes and incentives producers in exchange for the right to through market mechanisms. buy a given amount of doses within an agreed timeframe.3 There are 79 vaccines in clinical trials, 22 in the final trial or approval stage, By leveraging the phenomenon while 13 have been approved for use of global outsourcing, the “race to in at least one country. Among those develop” also includes the ability of in distribution, four were developed nations to establish themselves as in Europe and the United States regional or international production (Pfizer/BioNTech, Moderna, Oxford/ hubs. This is the case of India, which AstraZeneca, Johnson & Johnson), aims to become “the pharmacy of the two in Russia (Sputnik V and FBRI), world”, both through the development five in China (SinoVac, CanSino, two by Sinopharm and ZF2001) and two in York Times website, https://nyti.ms/2MHNdRL. India (Covishield, the locally produced 2 Dan Diamond, “The Crash Landing of Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine, and ‘Operation Warp Speed’”, in Politico, 17 January Covaxin).1 2021, https://politi.co/35P9mHx. 3 European Commission, Coronavirus: Commission Unveils EU Vaccines Strategy, 17 1 Carl Zimmer, Jonathan Corum and Sui-Lee June 2020, https://ec.europa.eu/commission/ Wee, “Coronavirus Vaccine Tracker”, in The New presscorner/detail/en/ip_20_1103. IAI COMMENTARIES 21 | 19 - MARCH 2021 21 | 19 - MARCH IAI COMMENTARIES 2 COVID-19 and the Global Vaccine Race of indigenous vaccines and licensing and on the other, at accelerating the agreements with major pharmaceutical re-launch of national economies, companies.4 providing a competitive advantage in the short term to countries with the Joint vaccine development activities highest numbers of vaccinations per are also emerging through south- capita. However, the purchase of large south cooperation. In addition to the quantities of vaccines does not always relationships put in place between correspond to their rapid deployment © 2021 IAI major G20 members from the emerging on a large scale due to national world (China, Russia and India), there regulatory barriers. are also partnerships involving non- traditional actors. For instance, the When it comes to COVID vaccination Iranian Pasteur Institute and the Finlay campaigns, a dilemma emerges Vaccine Institute of Cuba are together between the national and the global experimenting the “Soberana 2” dimension, between short and medium vaccine.5 to long-term objectives. Although the pursuit of a rapid national vaccination ISSN 2532-6570 The race to buy campaign may lead to an economic revival in the short term, on a global When it comes to the acquisition of the scale, the pandemic can be contained vaccine, or the “race to buy”, countries and the spread of new variants curbed and regional players attempt to only through an equitable access to guarantee the greatest possible supply immunisation campaigns, which of vaccines for their own population, in have been defined by the UN General some cases at the detriment of equitable Assembly as a “global public good”.6 distribution mechanisms put in place multilaterally. The COVAX Facility, led by GAVI, CEPI, the World Health Organisation and with Given the limited amount of vaccines UNICEF as a distribution partner, is one currently available in the global market of the cornerstones of the multilateral – and also considering the delays in response to the pandemic and 186 deliveries by some pharmaceutical countries are part of the initiative. companies in the West – international However, the minimum coverage competition arises for the purchase of goal set by COVAX (20 per cent of the as many doses as possible. The “race population) is currently insufficient to to buy” is aimed, on the one hand, at achieve global herd immunity, which containing the health emergency by instead would require a vaccination achieving so-called “herd immunity”, coverage estimated at between 60 and 80 per cent of the population.7 On 4 Harsh V. Pant and Aarshi Tirkey, “India’s Vaccine Diplomacy”, in Foreign Policy, 22 6 UN General Assembly, Comprehensive and January 2021, https://bit.ly/2LWyQft. Coordinated Response to the Coronavirus Disease 5 Maziyar Ghiabi, “Vaccine Alliance: How Cuba (COVID-19) Pandemic (A/74/L.92), 10 September and Iran Are Joining Forces to Battle Covid-19”, 2020, point 13, https://undocs.org/A/74/L.92. in Middle East Eye, 21 January 2021, https:// 7 Donald G. McNeil Jr., “How Much Herd www.middleeasteye.net/node/198216. Immunity Is Enough?”, in The New York Times, IAI COMMENTARIES 21 | 19 - MARCH 2021 21 | 19 - MARCH IAI COMMENTARIES 3 COVID-19 and the Global Vaccine Race the top of this, out of the almost 14.9 In the “race to distribute” towards billion doses reserved internationally third countries, the COVID vaccine (6.3 million of which are still under becomes an instrument of projection negotiation), COVAX has only managed of influence, generating geopolitical to purchase 1.1 billion doses, compared competition between global and to the 4.6 billion secured by high- regional actors in traditional and income nations.8 emerging areas of interest. © 2021 IAI Several countries have therefore With relatively less ambitious internal resorted to alternative vaccine vaccination objectives than in the procurement mechanisms, also at a West, China, Russia and India are the regional level. Among these, the EU great protagonists of this first stage purchasing mechanism stands out as of “vaccine diplomacy”, leveraging on the most advanced form of regional their own production capabilities, with cooperation for vaccine procurement. an early strategy centred on a strong In addition, the African Union, under role of the state and the creation of the South African Chairmanship, has international testing and production ISSN 2532-6570 set up a task force for the acquisition of alliances.10 vaccines across the continent, securing the supply of 670 million doses to be As far as the West is concerned, the shared among member states on an COVAX Facility is at the heart of every equitable basis.9 initiative for the joint distribution of vaccines to third countries.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Dentons Flashpoint Daily Global Situation Report
    Dentons Flashpoint Daily Global Situation Report February 8, 2021 Global Situation Update: February 8, 2021 KEY TAKEAWAYS Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccines offers only Nationwide protests Exports from limited protection in Myanmar opposing Britain to EU against mild disease the military coup fell by 68 percent in caused by the swell to tens of January due to South African variant thousands of people Brexit disruptions. of COVID-19. Note: This report is based on sources and information deemed to be true and reliable, but Dentons makes no representations to same. Global Confirmed coronavirus cases globally surpassed 106 million, with deaths at 2.3 million. The rate of new infections and deaths continued to ease. • Across low and middle-income countries, a • A second senior leader of a vast drug median average of 70 percent of those syndicate has been arrested in Thailand, as a surveyed reported a drop in income in the transnational dragnet tightens on the Sam Gor early months of the coronavirus pandemic last group, which police say dominates the $70 year, while 30 percent reported a loss of billion annual Asia-Pacific drug trade. employment and 45 percent said they had missed or reduced meals, according to a study by US universities. Note: This report is based on sources and information deemed to be true and reliable, but Dentons makes no representations to same. Global The number of daily new cases in the US and UK dropped continued to decline, with the UK weekly average dropping below 20,000. France, after recovering from November highs, is edging back up with new outbreaks.
    [Show full text]
  • Boletim Neaape V.05 N.01 - Abr
    ISSN 2594-6935 BOLETIM NEAAPE v.05 n.01 - abr. 2021 BOLETIM NEAAPE ISSN 2594-6935 O Boletim NEAAPE divulga análises sobre o processo decisório de política externa de distintos países, bem como sobre temas que integram as agendas de política exterior. A publicação tem periodicidade quadrimestral e é composta por editorial e textos dirigidos a leitores interessados em ter acesso rápido a informações de qualidade sobre temas contemporâneos. A publicação é vinculada ao Programa de Pós-Graduação do Instituto de Estudos Sociais e Políticos da UERJ (IESP/UERJ). É permitida a reprodução deste boletim e dos dados nele contidos, desde que citada a fonte. Reproduções para fins comerciais são proibidas. Corpo Editorial Conselho Editorial Fernanda Cristina Nanci Izidro Gonçalves Leticia Pinheiro Maria Regina Soares de Lima Editor Executivo Leandro Wolpert dos Santos Editor Adjunto Kayo Moura da Silva Editoria de Redação Amanda Silvestre da Silva André Pimentel Ferreira Leão Beatriz Pontes Edgar Andrés Londoño Niño Eduardo Morrot Coelho Madureira Ghaio Nicodemos Juliana de Sant’Anna Cunha Juliana Pinto Lemos da Silva Kayo Moura Leandro Wolpert dos Santos Leonardo Albarello Weber Luã Braga de Oliveira Marcelly Firmino Thaís Jesinski Batista Instituto de Estudos Sociais e Políticos Univesidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro Núcleo de Estudos Atores e Agendas de Política Externa Rua da Matriz, 82 - Botafogo CEP: 22260-100 neaape.com.br Rio de Janeiro – RJ (21) 2266-8300 SUMÁRIO 4 EDITORIAL A Diplomacia das Vacinas e a Necrodiplomacia Fernanda Nanci Gonçalves Leandro Wolpert dos Santos Leticia Pinheiro 6 A Índia e a Diplomacia da Vacina: busca por influência regional e status global Erik H.
    [Show full text]
  • COVID-19: Make It the Last Pandemic
    COVID-19: Make it the Last Pandemic Disclaimer: The designations employed and the presentation of the material in this publication do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city of area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. Report Design: Michelle Hopgood, Toronto, Canada Icon Illustrator: Janet McLeod Wortel Maps: Taylor Blake COVID-19: Make it the Last Pandemic by The Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness & Response 2 of 86 Contents Preface 4 Abbreviations 6 1. Introduction 8 2. The devastating reality of the COVID-19 pandemic 10 3. The Panel’s call for immediate actions to stop the COVID-19 pandemic 12 4. What happened, what we’ve learned and what needs to change 15 4.1 Before the pandemic — the failure to take preparation seriously 15 4.2 A virus moving faster than the surveillance and alert system 21 4.2.1 The first reported cases 22 4.2.2 The declaration of a public health emergency of international concern 24 4.2.3 Two worlds at different speeds 26 4.3 Early responses lacked urgency and effectiveness 28 4.3.1 Successful countries were proactive, unsuccessful ones denied and delayed 31 4.3.2 The crisis in supplies 33 4.3.3 Lessons to be learnt from the early response 36 4.4 The failure to sustain the response in the face of the crisis 38 4.4.1 National health systems under enormous stress 38 4.4.2 Jobs at risk 38 4.4.3 Vaccine nationalism 41 5.
    [Show full text]
  • Module 3 - How Can We Trust the Vaccines?
    Module 3 - How can we trust the vaccines? [00:00:10] Hello, welcome back to our MOOC, Covering the COVID-19 Vaccines: What Journalists Need to Know. I'm Maryn McKenna, your chief instructor and this is our third module. [00:00:24] In the first episode and materials, we talked about how we got to where we are now, the history of the pandemic and the achievement of vaccines that may stop it. In the second, we talked about the logistical and political barriers to getting vaccines distributed across the globe. [00:00:43] In this one, we're going to talk about what would prevent someone from taking the vaccine once it arrives where they are, the enormous amount of misinformation and disinformation swirling around the vaccines. This is a concern because the science is very clear, misinformation and disinformation aren't just noise, they have an effect. [00:01:08] When people read or watch or listen to false information about COVID, they are less likely to act to protect themselves, less likely to wear a mask, follow social distancing or accept the vaccine. Before we go any further into this, let's define our terms. In the definition of the researchers whose work we're recommending in this module, misinformation is most likely to be something passed along innocently, say your auntie pasting a rumor about the COVID vaccine into your family group chat. [00:01:47] The content is false, but the intent is not malicious. Disinformation is malicious - - it is weaponized misinformation created in order to have a destructive effect.
    [Show full text]
  • Vaccine Diplomacy in India’S Neighbourhood Sohini Bose Editor
    145 SPECIAL . no The Dynamics of Vaccine Diplomacy in India’s Neighbourhood Sohini Bose Editor JUNE 2021 © 2021 Observer Research Foundation. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, copied, archived, retained or transmitted through print, speech or electronic media without prior written approval from ORF. Introduction n early 2021, India—driven by its ‘Neighbourhood First’ policy1 and in its understanding of its role as the ‘net security provider’ of the region—2 began providing This special report examines the dynamics of COVID-19 vaccines on a priority basis vaccine diplomacy in India’s neighbourhood. In Ito its immediate neighbours.a Between January five sections, the report explores the state of the and April, India either sold or granted a total of countries’ vaccine rollout, the gaps in supply that 19,542,000 vaccine doses to countries in the region,3 either China or Russia is bridging as India halted until it stopped further exports in late April when it vaccine supply, and the implications of such efforts became clear that the second wave of the pandemic on the bigger geostrategic picture across India’s was going to be far more severe than the first one near-neighbourhood. in 2020. Today, at the time of writing this report, a significant volume of vaccines purchased from In her essay on Bangladesh—often referred to India by some of these near-neighbours remains as India’s “closest alliance” in the neighbourhood,5 undelivered. Moreover, the promise of the Quad Sohini Bose highlights the diplomatic challenges countriesb “to expand and accelerate production it faces in balancing the strategic underpinnings [of vaccines] in India” for the Indo-Pacific4 remains of the vaccine assistance it receives.
    [Show full text]
  • The Fast Approval and Slow Rollout of Sputnik V: Why Is Russia's Vaccine
    Article The Fast Approval and Slow Rollout of Sputnik V: Why Is Russia’s Vaccine Rollout Slower than That of Other Nations? Elza Mikule 1,*,† , Tuuli Reissaar 1,† , Jennifer Villers 1,† , Alain Simplice Takoupo Penka 1,† , Alexander Temerev 2 and Liudmila Rozanova 2 1 Global Studies Institute, University of Geneva, 1205 Geneva, Switzerland; [email protected] (T.R.); [email protected] (J.V.); [email protected] (A.S.T.P.) 2 Institute of Global Health, University of Geneva, 1202 Geneva, Switzerland; [email protected] (A.T.); [email protected] (L.R.) * Correspondence: [email protected] † These authors contributed equally. Abstract: The emergence of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic in the beginning of 2020 led to the deployment of enormous amounts of resources by different countries for vaccine development, and the Russian Federation was the first country in the world to approve a COVID-19 vaccine on 11 August 2020. In our research we sought to crystallize why the rollout of Sputnik V has been relatively slow considering that it was the first COVID-19 vaccine approved in the world. We looked at production capacity, at the number of vaccine doses domestically administered and internationally exported, and at vaccine hesitancy levels. By 6 May 2021, more first doses of Sputnik V had been administered Citation: Mikule, E.; Reissaar, T.; abroad than domestically, suggesting that limited production capacity was unlikely to be the main Villers, J.; Takoupo Penka, A.S.; reason behind the slow rollout. What remains unclear, however, is why Russia prioritized vaccine Temerev, A.; Rozanova, L.
    [Show full text]
  • Hudson Institute
    POLICY MEMO A Strategic US Approach to India’s COVID-19 Crisis AMB. HUSAIN HAQQANI Director, South and Central Asia, Hudson Institute APARNA PANDE Director, Initiative on the Future of India and South Asia, Hudson Institute June 2021 Introduction However, the resurgence of COVID-19 has jolted India at The recent surge of COVID-19 in South Asia challenges India’s a time when democratic countries, including the United traditional ability to aid its smaller neighbors, a change that States, view India as critical to balancing China’s deepening could, in turn, affect India’s influence in its competition with influence cross Asia. South Asia, a region holding 23 percent China. Unless India can recover from this surge with the help of the world’s population, now accounts for over 11 percent of allies like the United States, the pandemic could impact the of global COVID-19 cases and 6 percent of COVID-related Indo-Pacific’s geopolitical balance. deaths. The world’s largest democracy and second-most populous country, India alone currently accounts for over 84 In the past, India has often acted as a first responder across percent of South Asia’s cases and deaths. South Asia, helping other countries recover from natural disasters, and it initially occupied this role during the first For most of 2020, it appeared that India, thanks partly to a months of the coronavirus pandemic, when it helped several lockdown, had managed to avert a huge health crisis. During South Asian and Indian Ocean region countries cope with the this time, India supported its immediate South Asian neighbors effects of the disease.
    [Show full text]
  • Accesso Ai Vaccini: Diritto Internazionale Ed Europeo Indice
    ISSN 2384-9169 NUMERO SPECIALE www.eurojus.it Accesso ai vaccini: diritto internazionale ed europeo Indice 1. GIANLUCA CONTALDI E ANDREA CALIGIURI, Introduzione...........................................1 2. GIACOMO DI FEDERICO, La strategia dell’Unione europea per i vaccini tra principio di attribuzione e leale collaborazione.............................................................................8 3. VINCENZO SALVATORE, La valutazione dei vaccini nell’Unione europea...................15 4. CARLO CURTI GIALDINO, Diplomazia dei vaccini e politica estera al tempo della pandemia da COVID-19...............................................................................................21 5. JULIANA RODRÍGUEZ RODRIGO, A few thoughts on the Advance Purchase Agreement of COVID-19 vaccine between the European Commission and AstraZeneca..............31 6. PIA ACCONCI, L’effettività delle azioni internazionali per l’immunizzazione planetaria antiCOVID-19 tra interessi collettivi e unilaterali.......................................................51 7. FEDERICA PASSARINI, Il ruolo degli Stati e dell’OMS nel contrasto alle malattie epidemiche e il problema dell’iniqua distribuzione dei vaccini...................................69 Introduzione DI GIANLUCA CONTALDI* E ANDREA CALIGIURI** Sommario: 1. Un’analisi del problema dell’accesso ai vaccini nella prospettiva del diritto internazionale ed europeo. – 2. Alcune osservazioni preliminari in merito alle strategie nazionali sui vaccini anti-Covid nell’ottica della tutela del diritto umano alla salute.
    [Show full text]
  • A Comparative Analysis of the EU and ASEAN Bruno Jetin
    How will the COVID-19 pandemic affect the regions? A comparative analysis of the EU and ASEAN Bruno Jetin To cite this version: Bruno Jetin. How will the COVID-19 pandemic affect the regions? A comparative analysis of theEU and ASEAN. 2021. halshs-03171573 HAL Id: halshs-03171573 https://halshs.archives-ouvertes.fr/halshs-03171573 Preprint submitted on 17 Mar 2021 HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access L’archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est archive for the deposit and dissemination of sci- destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents entific research documents, whether they are pub- scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, lished or not. The documents may come from émanant des établissements d’enseignement et de teaching and research institutions in France or recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires abroad, or from public or private research centers. publics ou privés. How will the COVID-19 pandemic affect the regions? A comparative analysis of the EU and ASEAN Bruno Jetin Universiti Brunei Darussalam Working Paper No.63 Institute of Asian Studies, Universiti Brunei Darussalam Gadong 2021 Editorial Board, Working Paper Series Professor Lian Kwen Fee, Institute of Asian Studies, Universiti Brunei Darussalam. Associate Professor Paul J. Carnegie, Institute of Asian Studies, Universiti Brunei Darussalam. Authors Bruno Jetin is Associate Professor and Director of the Institute of Asian Studies, Universiti Brunei Darussalam. Prior to joining UBD, he was researcher at the Institute for Research on Contemporary Southeast Asia (IRASEC, CNRS-MAEE, Bangkok) and Associate Professor at the University Sorbonne Paris Nord where he was Deputy Director and then Acting Director (2010-2012) of the Research Center in Economics.
    [Show full text]
  • Preventing the Next Pandemic: Vaccine Diplomacy in a Time of Anti-Science Peter Hotez MD Phd @Peterhotez
    Preventing the next Pandemic: Vaccine Diplomacy in a time of Anti-Science Peter Hotez MD PhD Texas Children’s Hospital Endowed Chair in Tropical Pediatrics Dean, National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine University Professor, Baylor University Hagler Institute of Advanced Studies, Texas A&M University @PeterHotez 1 Under 5 Child Deaths 2000-2017 GBD 2017 Sebastiao Salgado 2000 2017 ‐ Measles 478,727 ‐ Measles 83,438 (-83%) ‐ Pertussis 138,048 ‐ Pertussis 86,091 (-38%) ‐ Tetanus 105,333 ‐ Tetanus 18,623 (-82%) ‐ H. flu 86,104 ‐ H.flu 36,185 (-58%) ‐ Diphtheria 10,413 ‐ Diphtheria 2,914 (-72%) Page 2 xxx00.#####.ppt 5/7/2020 1:49:32 PM Incidence of Hib in USA 3 Global Elimination of Polio & Measles 4 New Global Anthropocene “Hot Zones” of Vaccine- Preventable & Neglected Tropical Diseases NTDs Where political instability combines with climate change, urbanization, deforestation, or antiscience Texas &Gulf Arabian Coast Peninsula China and Philippines Central Africa’s Latin Un-Wars America 5 War, Political Collapse, Climate Change, Urbanization • Arabian Peninsula • Venezuela 6 War, Political Collapse, Climate Change, Urbanization • Africa Un-Wars • Texas + Gulf Coast 7 SHIFTING POVERTY: “Blue Marble Health” • Neglected diseases of the poor living amidst wealth • A new framework for global science policy and the poverty-related diseases 8 COVID19 and the G20 Nations • 2-3 million cases • United States • Spain • Italy • France • Germany • UK • China • Turkey 9 Tissue Expression of ACE2: Heart, Lung, Adipose, Gastrointestinal
    [Show full text]
  • China's Health Diplomacy
    Focus Asia Perspective & Analysis September 2021 China’s Health Diplomacy: Taking Forward the Health Silk Road in Southeast Asia Geopolitical competition over Covid-19 vaccines is at its peak. In the absence of a fair and equitable mechanism to coordinate vaccine access, procurement seems to be based either on nationalistic goals or on geopolitical favors. While the extent to which major powers like the US and China are using vaccine diplomacy to create long-term dependencies is yet to be seen, signs of it are already noticeable, for example, in Southeast Asia. China’s health diplomacy there is not new but has always been a major part of their strategic relationship and China’s Health Silk Road. Increasing spotlight on it has, however, invited an increased sense of fervor among the Western countries to also court the region. Engagements are already in full swing, and the ASEAN countries are adopting multilateralism to navigate these complex dynamics. So, this paper first seeks to trace the trajectory of China’s health diplomacy in Southeast Asia. Secondly, we shall see how the Chinese health silk road is opening doors to strategic vaccine diplomacy for China. Introduction are now planning to re-imagine the economy and accelerate growth, distinct diplomatic trends can be Covid-19 has overhauled the global public health seen in the way countries are conducting business order. It has revealed not only the inefficiencies with one other. in the health infrastructure but also the caveats existing in government functioning with regards to Governments are now practicing strategic vaccine formulating an effective response to a pandemic.
    [Show full text]
  • India's Vaccine Diplomacy: Combating Pandemic, the India Way Manish
    India’s Vaccine Diplomacy: Combating Pandemic, the India Way Manish Chand It was a shining moment of pride for over 1.3 billion people of India, and an emotional moment for Prime Minister Narendra Modi when he launched the world’s largest vaccination drive on January 16. Broadcast live on the national television, the much-awaited vaccine roll-out has ignited optimism anew about a healthier and happier future. The vaccination drive has been tracked closely in the world as the “Made-in-India” vaccines promise deliverance from the lethal curse of the coronavirus pandemic that has killed millions around the world. ”It takes years to prepare vaccines. But in the shortest span of time, we ​ have not only one but two India-made vaccines,” PM Modi said while showering praise on Indian scientists who worked tirelessly to make what seemed impossible possible. The sheer scale of India’s vaccination drive is staggering: by the second phase, India hopes to inoculate over 300 million people, which exceeds the population of Britain, France, Germany and Italy combined. “There are only three countries in the world with more than 30 crore population: India, the US and China. Hence, this is going to be the biggest vaccination drive,” PM Modi said. India in V5 Club The indigenous development and manufacturing of the twin vaccines -- Covishield (the local name for the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine developed in the UK in collaboration with Serum Institute of India) and Covaxin, locally made by pharma company Bharat Biotech – is a high point in India’s technology journey and another feather in its reputation as the world’s pharma powerhouse.
    [Show full text]