As countries scramble to produce a working vaccine for COVID-19, the virus presents a new threat to human rights around the world. A potential vaccine has become a powerful political and diplomatic tool, and leaders have reacted accordingly with a rise in what has become known as “vaccine nationalism”. Not only do such sentiments risk delaying the efforts to curb the spread of the virus, but they also risk putting people’s lives at risk and exacerbating existing global inequalities.
Firstly, a desire for prestige and diplomatic power risks incentivising countries to take shortcuts in the rigorous and time-consuming testing phases that vaccine development requires. Such concerns have recently been raised in the context of the Russian vaccine Sputnik V, which has skipped the large-scale safety trials that normally form part of vaccine development. The vaccine is instead being rolled out for mass production with very little human testing. This risks not only producing an unsafe vaccine but also undermining people’s trust in all COVID-19 vaccines. Rushing a vaccine with severe side effects into use risks decreasing people’s trust in vaccines for many years to come. This has been seen in Sweden, where many people still suffer from narcolepsy caused by a rushed vaccine against the Swine flu. Trust in vaccines is still lower in Sweden than the international average as a result. With anti-vaccine conspiracies rising in popularity across the world, such recklessness risks prolonging the pandemic even after a safe vaccine is found.
Secondly, countries across the world are scrambling to buy as many vaccine doses as they can lay their hands on, risking leaving poorer countries less able to secure the vaccine they need. In March, the Trump administration famously offered a German pharmaceutical company large amounts of money to secure a vaccine solely for the US, causing the German government to offer their own financial incentives in response. Such bidding wars risk resulting in a race to the bottom where rich countries buying up all available vaccine doses, leaving poorer countries without. The World Health Organisation, criticising such vaccine nationalism, has instead encouraged the world to join its initiative to distribute affordable vaccines around the globe, prioritising high-risk groups.
Finally, a possible functioning vaccine already shows signs of being used as a geopolitical tool. China, which like Russia has declared that it will soon have a vaccine ready, has been accused of using the vaccine as a political weapon and offering it to strategically important allies as part of its international diplomatic efforts. Deals have been struck with countries like Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, and Pakistan, with the presidents of the Philippines and Venezuela expressing enthusiasm about the Russian and Chinese vaccines. This could encourage countries in proximity to Russia and especially China to offer political concessions in order to obtain the vaccine.
While populist nationalism has already challenged liberal values of global cooperation, human rights, and openness, vaccine nationalism is showing signs of becoming the latest threat to international cooperation. Liberals must act to encourage that vaccines are thoroughly tested and safe before being mass-distributed, and to encourage countries to act with solidarity with high-risk individuals in both poor and rich countries. The pandemic is by its nature global, and the world must act together to be able to defeat it.
Main image: Jernej Furman on Flickr
