COVID-19

Politics Of COVID-19 Vaccines

How COVID-19 Vaccines have become tools in the hands of Politicians through politics to get mileage and geopolitical dominance

Pandemic is raging far and wide. Vaccines are now helping countries get back to normalcy. Although, we can understand only a few countries have full access to them and we are far away from vaccinating the required population to stop the spread.

There is no part of lives that is free of any form of politics.

The most political aspect of this pandemic is the virus. Even more political than it has become this, life-saving vaccine. It is not only a tool to save people’s lives but also to exert power and dominance. This is not an isolated phenomenon restricted to any one country but is spreading across the borders just like the virus itself.

It has been quite some time since we have discussed something from the arena of Diplomacy and International Relations. All of what is discussed here is solely for awareness and understanding. The views mentioned are personal.

What are Vaccines?

Vaccines are a type of medicines that provide you with immunity against certain disease(s) by stipulating immune reaction with help of antibodies. This is a proven way to fight against several diseases and has been an integral part of our lives for centuries. The process of providing vaccines to a given population is called vaccination. Read more from WHO.

Why Vaccination?

As per medical sciences, vaccination has two important functions- Individual and Communal.

At the individual level, vaccines provide protection to the individual against a particular disease.

At the community level, vaccines create an important phenomenon called herd immunity ie. a point where the entire community is immune to a particular disease. Usually, that's the point where the disease will not spread because everyone around you is immune. Diseases like smallpox vanished only because of this.

Coming to COVID-19, we know that it will not stop the disease from infecting you but it will significantly reduce its impact by reducing the severity of the symptoms. At the community level, we aren’t reaching anywhere close to herd immunity. COVID-19 is still a massive threat to us.

Vaccination Challenges

Pandemic won’t end with just the good news of starting the vaccination somewhere else. It is indeed a gigantic challenge. The world now has around 7 Billion population. As per arithmetic, it would take at least three years for at least half the people to be fully vaccinated. Following are the challenges

1. It's not just enough to talk about vaccines- No one is caring for the existing production capacity. Will there be enough vaccines for all? Who will get them? How will they be transported and traded?
2. Dosage- Most of the vaccines right now are to be taken in doses. Most of them are two-dose vaccines. One dose vaccines are rare. How far will it affect the availability? What will be the balance between both doses?
3. Economics- No product available is free of the demand-supply graph. Especially those which are controlled by private players. Is the product commercially available? How far can countries afford free vaccines? Will it be available to the private players? Can people purchase them from the market or will it be administered by the government only?
4. Logistics- Something which everyone tends to ignore. The production and distribution chain. The vaccines require cold storage. Effort should be made to avoid wastage. How many health centres have proper storage? How many of them can they store? How to transport them to faraway places? These important questions need answers.
5. Data- What are these vaccinations made of? Were the trials transparent? Were the details transparent? How many of them will be produced and sent? Who all can be given them? How many doses are needed to cover the entire population?

World’s largest vaccination drive is happening in India right now.

Vaccine and Politics

Why Vaccines are used for Politics?

Politics is a basic quest for power, dominance and wealth. It is always played on essential items because it will affect a large population which is essential for the survival of several political and non-political players. Vaccines are a tool despite being an essential commodity as their production and distribution are held by a few. This is the main leverage for the political players. There is bioethics in place to avoid most of these problems. Beyond a point, all of these are up for a toss.

How Politics of Vaccines work?

The limited power game of vaccines is now not in the hands of medical science, health workers or doctors. It is under the hands of giant pharma companies and the countries they are based in. Most of the countries themselves have vaccine research, production and distribution units in control. Not all countries are capable enough to have them for multiple reasons. Only a handful of countries today are into this business. The rest of them either try to control it from outside or are dependant on these countries for Vaccines. With pandemic creating havoc near and far, vaccines are a big saviour to the population. Companies not only produce vaccines to save people, but they also do it for profit. The fight for these life-savers are restricted and has just started to play out.

Vaccine efficacy and politics

The most crucial part of vaccines is their human trials and their results. These come out as reports and are published in reputed journals. It is also publically available for media and governmental use. The most important value is the efficacy of a vaccine. The higher the efficacy, the more is safety provided. Different vaccines had reported different efficacy levels. This has lead to speculation and scepticism on which vaccine is safe and which is not. This also led to geopolitical fights and blame game. Some countries not making the results public came under the flak. The efficacy value is far too low or fabricated and a lot of issues had also captured headlines.

Sputnik was the vaccine that at first had a lot of critics. India’s Covaxin numbers were not publicised when it had said that it had started the vaccination process for emergency use.

How COVID-19 Vaccines are available?

Vaccines take years of research and hard work. They may win or lose. Scientists, researchers and companies collaborate together to develop them. Each stage of vaccine development is crucial and is closely monitored by the respective countries and the World Health Organisation.

In the pandemic, all the processes were hurried up. Each stage which normally would have taken months or years were fast-tracked to save time and effort. The companies else who would have been competing tried to collaborate. They helped each other with research and the next stage even if one of them failed. Most of the companies also had the headstart of starting research from the SARS and applying it. This was an opportunity for various countries and politicians in the fight against COVID-19. There is no doubt in saying that vaccines stages were fast-tracked due to local politics as well. There was both public as well governmental pressure on various companies. This directly or indirectly has resulted in COVID-19 vaccines.

Popularly known COVID-19 vaccine companies include Pfizer, Moderna, Serum Institute of India, Johnson and Johnson, etc.

Vaccination Sovereignty

The most popular political issue with vaccines at the start was the issue of sovereignty ie. where the resources for vaccine production, wealth distribution, investment etc. has always been inherently favoured by certain nations. Some countries are inherently powerful enough to have maximum supplies, pharma ingredients, natural resources etc. They also have the ability to impose trade barriers and controls. These countries can also force their companies not to engage in a contract with other companies or distributors exerting dominance.

The US till April last was controlling the export of vaccine raw materials using the age-old Defence Production Act. This is a clear example of countries exerting sovereignty.

Vaccine Monopoly

Those nations that control vaccine productions tend to be monopolies. They not only have the power of production but also distribution. There are only very few nations that produce beyond a limit in order to export. They also inherently tend to believe that they are in charge of the entire world’s vaccination. It's up to their political convenience to think so.

India is the world’s vaccine hub. It is the largest producer of vaccines in the world. Serum Institute of India is not only manufacturing vaccines for India but also for the majority of the countries.

Vaccine Nationalism

Certain countries by the political system, type of governments, history, present political scenario tend to be nationalistic. This nationalism might also reflect upon their vaccine policy.

Countries can become adamant on which vaccine to use, which country’s vaccine to use, what vaccines are to be allowed, determine the price and administer them etc. This will not only affect people’s choice and availability in their country but will also lead to hoarding of supplies.

India at first, ie. before the second wave decided to use only indigenously developed vaccines ie. Covishield and Covaxin. The EU is so adamant about its decision not to allow the sale and use of Russian made Sputnik Vaccines on their soil for political reasons. It took India, weeks after the onset of Secondwave to allow the use of all WHO-approved vaccines in the country. Despite the arrival of Sputnik vaccines to India, it hasn’t administered its use as if it doesn’t trust them. Russia and China have made up their mind not to import and use any western vaccines, for political reasons. US and EU several countries are dependant on India and its own allies for the supplies. There is a direct vaccine race now. What about other nations? Why should they suffer?

Countries like the UK, US and Israel ahead in the race when compared to other countries. These countries are proceeding with the path of self-help combined with vaccine nationalism. They are so happy to enjoy the completion of vaccination without even giving space for other countries’ vaccination. They must be aware that, without other nations being vaccinated their different sectors will be affected and also that the virus will mutate a lot and keep spreading in these countries only to reach their footstep.

Vaccine Geopolitics

Just like any issue in International Sphere, geopolitics creeps in. Whenever it happens, the world is divided into various sides. Each nation wants to exert its geopolitical importance.

Russia and China were the first to be part of the geopolitical games by donating vaccines Sputnik and Sinovac respectively to developing nations in Asia and Africa. This is how these two nations are getting closer to those regions which the West have been ignoring for a long. When the UK and the US kept vaccinating themselves, Russia and China chose to share their vaccines with others. That gesture can’t be ignored by any country. These countries are using vaccines for their foreign policy.

The UK and the US for the obvious reasons can never share it before self-help because they will have to face a lot of consequences from the public. That is not the same case with Russia and China. Russia used this time to get closer with allies and strengthen their position. It was necessary for Russia to keep its survival despite its decline in Global politics for the past few years. China on the other hand had to makeover for all the flak it had to face with the origin of the pandemic. A democracy that surprised us all was India, despite the concerns of the local population, it was a front runner in helping other countries. Only after the onset of the second wave, that India stopped it and decided to stop the vaccine diplomacy. Vaccine diplomacy then became more and more controversial back at home. India also had hoped to counter China in the same by donating them in the neighbourhood.

US and EU are working together to impose their own geopolitical agenda. They are highly sceptical about those vaccines from China and Russia. The Quad initiative is also trying maximum to limit China’s vaccine diplomacy. Even ASEAN countries are forced to keep away both China and Russia from pressure but China has made good inroads. Slovak PM even had to resign due to the approval of Sputnik vaccines in the country.

Vaccine Pricing Politics

Most companies engaged in vaccination are privately owned. They need profit. At least it should be economically viable. Usually, it's the Governments that procure them in bulk and distribute them for free.

India gave free vaccines to multiple developing countries which is well and good. But the same country is now pricing the highest for its own citizens. The companies are charging differently for the centre, state and private dealers. This is extremely deplorable to the public. Companies are using the vaccines to make extraordinary profits through differential pricing. Pfizer has registered record profits for this year.

India has the world‘s highest price rate for vaccine doses in the world. The highest rate is INR 2400 for two doses.

Federal Politics

Federalism stands for the relationship between the Government of a country and its states/provinces. Often at a time of crisis when everyone should be united, the fight is still on between the Central Govt and the states. It is in particular prevalent in India where the states are fighting with the Centre over pandemic control and vaccines. The Centre now has total control of vaccine procurement and division amongst the states. States claim shortage and irregular vaccine distribution by the centre and the companies. Just as we discussed above the pricing of vaccines was indeed a point of contention between both. There were also speculations on how Indian states had to compete in purchasing vaccines directly from the open market.

Vaccination in India has been controlled via the COWIN portal which requires registration. The platform had multiple glitches. Given that a lot of Indians don’t have access to good internet and aren’t digitally literate, this remains to be a big challenge. The suggestions for door to door vaccination is yet to be adopted and implemented.

TRIPS

The big issue raised by the developing world regarding vaccines was on Trade-Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) agreement of the World Trade Organisation (WTO). It deals with the production and control of vaccines in the world especially in terms of technology.

It was always in the best interest of the developed world to favour IP rights and protection. It was assumed by various developing nations that this agreement is hurting vaccine production, especially in their own countries. It was only in the first week of May after the special request from South Africa and India on the same, the US was ready for the waiver. What will this mean?

This means that the US will support patent-free COVID-19 vaccine manufacturing. Companies that don’t have patents for vaccine manufacturing can also engage in the same. Although, the big hurdle itself is coming from nations in the EU which is still not agreeing with this idea. Despite patent waiver what we can witness is that it will not solve all the problems faced right now. The issues like technology exchange will be the main challenge then. If at all this problem is solved in Geneva, it will definitely be helpful for India, South Africa, China, Cuba etc.

Vaccine Electoral Politics

Whenever elections arrive political parties give false and untrue promises which they themselves can never fulfil. Sometimes the promises may look as if it's realistic but it is actually impossible without big sacrifices. Such was the promises made regarding free vaccines to all.

It was noted during the Bihar state elections 2020 of India, where the ruling alliance made that promise. It was as if other states will never get a free vaccine because there were no elections. This was carry forwarded by a lot of states including Kerala, Bengal, TN etc. Now they are in a soup after companies are engaged in differential pricing. The ability of states to borrow money is also limited since borrowing has already affected many states.

In the 2020 US Presidential elections, we could witness Donald Trump repeatedly saying that there will be vaccines before the polling day. This is not just indicative of his promise but also the pressure on the vaccine industry forcing them to fast track the process. He couldn’t even keep that promise altogether. The Slovak PM had to resign due to the pressure from coalition partners. In the UK, the Conservative party won in the local elections because of the vaccine strategy. Across all the democratic nations we can see that vaccines having a direct impact on elections and also vice versa.

Solutions to the problem

Vaccine Passport

For restarting the travel tourism industry and international travel, what people care for is the safety of their home population. As we know virus doesn’t care for demographics or borders, it travels faster than we think. After the majority of countries have started vaccination, the demand for having a Vaccine Passport is growing wider. What a magnificent idea, isn’t it?

Vaccine passport means there will be a passport like document indicating your vaccination status.

Ofcourse it has a lot of pros but no one is there to speak about the cons. EU will be allowing fully vaccinated US citizens on its soil. The tourism industry is preparing to be back on track. But, this idea itself is biased towards those western countries that have very little population and have almost gone ahead with the vaccination. What about those countries that haven't even have surpassed the initial stage of the same? What about very large countries that will take a lot of time to vaccinate their population? Isn’t the right to travel getting restricted because of that? It surely is. A vaccine Passport is indeed a good idea if the opportunity to obtain will be a fair one.

COVAX

An abbreviation for COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access. It has an initiative by the World Community and the Vaccine Alliance to make sure that Vaccines are uniformly available across the globe to all countries. This initiative is backed by WHO. COVAX is in charge of the distribution of vaccine to African nations and those which are finding it hard to get them. For many countries, this is the only choice. At first, COVAX had focussed on testing kits and other medical equipment. Ghana was the first country to receive vaccines via this initiative. This initiative has been beneficial to a lot of low-income nations across the globe.

EU was one of the very first fund donors while India and China are ahead in vaccine donations. There are more vaccines coming into the mainstream every day and will be part of COVAX very soon.

The US under Trump at first alleged that COVAX was a pro-Chinese initiative and is filled with Chinese influence, which is actually untrue. This was also amidst the fact that Trump had pulled out of WHO. It's only now that the US is pledging enough funds and the vaccines to the COVAX initiative. It took a long time for the developed countries to take an effort in funding.

COVAX is extremely essential to ensure that fairness remains in vaccine distribution to all countries. It should not be that rich countries can take away everything and leave nothing behind for others. There shouldn’t politics on this issue.

Lessons and Conclusion

Vaccines are lifesavers. They are proven to work. All vaccines have met the basic need- ie. reduce the severity of the disease and spread. You don’t need to be afraid of vaccines and vaccinations. Medical science is so advanced to help if you have any side effects. Those countries have relaxed their public restrictions is only because they have done vaccination properly. These countries must now start helping others too. You are not safe until everyone else is safe.

Also, those countries who are are donating doses should not be stopped from doing so merely because of political rivalry or for influence. This is a global pandemic, where everyone is affected and no one is safe. Everyone has to come out together. There needs to be unity and not enmity.

What binds every human being together is Science. It is the most globalised entity in the world. Science is the same everywhere. The success of vaccines is not just the brilliance of any one country or one company or even one leader. It has been a collective effort and shared success. It's going to benefit everyone when done properly. Science is all about patience. We need to give time for it to work.

Politics is everywhere. It is in governance, science, technology, industry etc. All those countries which have raced ahead show how well their political establishment has managed it and how far politics has helped them. It has the ability to change countries forever. That change will happen only when we the people demand better from our politicians. How far will we keep asking for identity politics?

You are not safe until your family, your neighbourhood and your country isn’t. If you haven’t got yourself a jab, proceed soon. Irespective of what the vaccine is or where is it from, it will work.

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