To the issue of vaccine nationalism in COVID-19 era

Abstract

Problem setting. The new coronavirus pandemic is one of the greatest challenges in contemporary history, especially in the face of unprecedented globalization. Mankind has been waiting for almost a year since the beginning of the pandemic for the most effective way to fight against the virus – vaccines. Over the last two years, such concepts as “vaccine races”, “vaccine nationalism”, “vaccine diplomacy” have been spread in the international political and scientific discourse. However, in Ukraine these concepts have not become the subject of research yet.

Analysis of recent researches and publications. The researched issues have not attracted the attention of Ukrainian scientific community yet, so the basis of our work consists of foreign scientists’ publications, which were, inter alia, done by L. Gruszczynski (Lukasz Gruszczynski), A. Filipovich (Aleksa Filipović), P. Hotez (Peter J. Hotez), I. Yanqiu Rachel Zhou, A. Kobieriecka, M. M. Kobieriecki, Z. Mammedyarov and some others. In addition to that, Academician of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine S. Komisarenko has studied the problems and prospects of creating Ukrainian vaccine against COVID-19, rightly noting that it is a matter of national security.

The target of the research. The target of this research is to examine the content, the scope and genesis of “vaccine nationalism” concept, practical manifestations of this phenomenon as well as the relationship between vaccine diplomacy and vaccine nationalism.

Article’s main body. Over the past two years, nation-states have resorted to policies of economic protectionism, and then to so-called “vaccine nationalism”, which we inclined to analyze in three guises: 1) “vaccine races” – at the stage of development and testing; 2) “vaccine egoism” – at the stage of contracting and use of vaccines; 3) the issue of mutual recognition of vaccines. Thus, the article examines the meaning of the concept of vaccine nationalism in its broadest sense. It has been emphasized, however, that vaccine nationalism is not a new phenomenon in international relations as a similar situation was observed, in particular, during the H1N1 pandemic. It has been also illustrated that vaccine nationalism usually characterizes the most economically developed states.

Vaccine-producing countries to carry out their foreign policy tasks, as well as recipient countries to ensure their biological security resort to “vaccine diplomacy”. However, there is no unanimous scientific approach to the definition of both “vaccine diplomacy” and “vaccine nationalism” around the globe. It has been established that with the spread of COVID-19, protection of state sovereignty and national security has come to the fore in comparison with the obligation to cooperate and the principle of sovereign equality, which are jus cogens and erga omnes. On the other hand, “my nation first” policy is not directly prohibited by the letter of international law.

Conclusions. In the modern world, there are simultaneous phenomena of globalization and deglobalization. Actually, to denote the trend of deglobalization in the field of countering COVID-19 such a concept as “vaccine nationalism” is used. The “vaccine race” can be seen as a rivalry between two political regimes: on the one hand, liberal democracy in the face of the United States and its allies, and on the other hand – states with authoritarian political regimes (China and Russia). However, geopolitical rivalry, the struggle for extension of spheres of influence can be an effective means of combating the pandemic in practice. The concept of vaccine nationalism is closely linked to “vaccine diplomacy”, which is used by vaccine donor countries as a method of achieving their national interests. It was concluded that it is important to ensure sovereignty and biological security of Ukraine by launching the production of vaccines against infectious diseases. That will also strengthen the position of Ukrainian diplomacy.