Any geopolitical player will try to use the available instruments to solve the faced problems and to present their utility in relation to other international players. At the same time, the first reflex of the countries, since the start of the pandemic, was to isolate themselves, not to show solidarity. The most developed states made progress in inventing COVID-19 vaccines and the richest states bought this vaccine in larger quantities than the size of their population. The international aspects of the vaccine, separately and together, and the behavior of the states that possess or do not possess vaccines and how the international and regional relations influence the vacation process were discussed by experts invited to IPN’s public debate “Coexistence”, “war” or “diplomacy” of vaccines in the world? Impact on Moldova”.
IPN’s senior contributor Dionis Cenușa, a political scientist, researcher at the Institute of Political Sciences at Justus Liebig University in Giessen, Germany, said given that we are in a major crisis with global connotations and socioeconomic repercussions, any global player, any geopolitical player will try to use the available instruments to solve the experienced problems so as to prove their utility in relation to other international players. From this viewpoint, the EU is interested in not only vaccinating the own population of about 500 million, but also in showing its solidarity with the states in its locality, both from ethnical, moral and also purely strategic, public health security reasons. This means fewer cases of COVID-19 will come from Eastern Europe to the EU.
But Russia does not support this logic. By promoting its own vaccine, it pursues also geopolitical goulash. Depending on the final objective, the reasons of using vaccines by the player x, y or z could be deduced.
International public health expert Ala Tocarciuc said there are many types of vaccines and nine technologies that are now used to invent vaccines against COVID-19. She referred primarily to the vaccines that were approved by the international medicines agencies and are recommended by the WHO. These are human or monkey vector-based vaccines, RNA vaccines. There are several types of vaccines created according to the traditional method, where the whole virus was taken and was inactivated. Respectively, there are vaccines based on inactivated virus and based on protein. There also vaccines created by taking a portion of bacterium (tetanus) that is covered by a spike protein. These vaccines are considered very efficient. They are invented based on recombined technology and have a very low price. They haven’t been approved yet.
There is competition between producers and between technologies too, but the good side is that mankind managed to invent a vaccine during less than a year.
Expert in international relations and security Valeriu Ostalep, ex-deputy minister of foreign affairs, said the first reflex of the countries, since the start of the pandemic, was to isolate themselves, not to show solidarity. The most developed states made progress in inventing COVID-19 vaccines and, practically from the start, special services were engaged, especially the Intelligence Service of Israel, and these started to purchase from abroad different new technologies for fighting the pandemic. This confirms that these states are selfish as each of them through about an individual approach first of all. The large states, besides beginning to produce, started to order vaccines in quantities that are five to ten times larger than their population. The mass vaccination of the population in developed states started last year in this period and the political administration of these states, together with the intelligence services, became involved to protect the citizens, leaving solidarity aside.
After a year, the political, economic and military contradictions between the biggest players of the world only worsened everywhere in the world, even if peaceful cooperation was needed. In parallel, the bilateral discussions on economic issues between these players and suppliers of vaccines are used as instruments for solving other problems. In times of the pandemic, the egoism of the rich and large states became more accentuated and the vaccine producers use the vaccines to resolve other issues.
The public debate “Coexistence”, “war” or “diplomacy” of vaccines in the world? Impact on Moldova” is the 181st installment of IPN’s project “Developing Political Culture through Public Debates” that is implemented with support from the Hanns Seidel Foundation.
