A war of influence over vaccines
French President Emmanuel Macron has sounded a bold declaration to leaders of the G7 to consider pledging a 3 to 5 percent of their Covid-19 vaccine supplies to developing nations.
Macron, who comes across as a social-democrat, feels that such a gesture would not only help to fight Covid-19 variants resistant to the vaccines used in developed countries, but would also narrow extreme inequalities bedevilling the world. In an interview with The Financial Times, the French president Macron made it abundantly clear that African nations were purchasing western vaccines such as those made by AstraZeneca at “astronomical prices” — two or three times the price paid by the European Union — and being offered Chinese and Russian vaccines of uncertain efficacy against new variants of the virus.
The French president said the pricing was evidently a problem of sales by intermediaries, and might equally affect the vaccines of other drugs companies. “We are allowing the idea to take hold that hundreds of millions of vaccines are being given in rich countries and that we are not starting in poor countries,” Macron said. “It’s an unprecedented acceleration of global inequality and it’s politically unsustainable too because it’s paving the way for a war of influence over vaccines”, Macron said. “You can see the Chinese strategy, and the Russian strategy too.” Now, this is very interesting. The US has firmly rejected Macron’s proposal. I don’t know if the UK, which has since exited the EU will accede to this suggestion given Macron’s tone towards the costing of AstraZeneca’s vaccine. So far, it seems Macron enjoys the unparalleled support of Germany’s
Chancellor Angela Merkel, his partner in crime in the drive for the Alliance for Democracy – a Franco-German Initiative signed by foreign ministers of both countries in August 2019 at the United Nations Assembly.
“It’s not about vaccine diplomacy, it’s not a power game — it’s a matter of public health,” Macron is quoted saying. In a change of tone the French president insisted that he welcomed the global provision of Russian and Chinese vaccines provided they were certified by scientists for use against the appropriate variants of the virus.
But I sense a power game! It is patently clear that the western countries have launched an onslaught against Chinese and Russian Covid vaccines. They will even use every single opportunity they get to impute ill-intent on these nations. I have wondered why this continues to happen. Is it a historical vendetta or a hangover from the Cold-War era?
Or is it China and Russia’s membership to the BRICS bloc, which threatens the long-term existence of the Bretton-Woods institutions (World Bank and International Monetary Fund) and their adjuncts such as the Paris Club, which causes western nations so much consternation at China and Russia?
Methinks it’s the latter reasoning that feeds this envy. Multilateralism can never thrive in an atmosphere of jealousy, envy and hatred. Nations of the world need to accept each other, with their strengths and weaknesses if they are to forge a common front against common challenges such as the current Covid-19 pandemic.
Yes, I do share Macron’s fears that while intellectual property is essential for innovation, the concept cannot apply in conditions in which vaccine manufacturers are not cooperative.
This is a valid point, which has been buttressed by other parties, especially India and South Africa and eight other countries – when they sought the World Trade Organisation (WTO) to exempt member countries from enforcing some patents, and other IP rights under the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS).Macron does not think it’s the right debate, it’s not helpful, but it will arise — “this discussion over excess profits based on scarcity of the vaccine." Inevitably, it defeats the purpose of multilateralism. But on the flipside, it is also a product of the failure of capitalism – a system which extols excess profits over social justice! As the world discusses various methods by which to make Covid vaccines available and accessible to citizens of the world, it is also proper to interrogate prevalent economic systems, to see if they are still relevant or they have run their course. In a multilateral arrangement there is always a danger that nations will want to cling on to their national sovereignties – an antecedent to globalism. One wonders whether the Covax facility through which countries are pooling their resources to fight Covid, will succeed given the contradictions posed by capitalistic and monopolistic production systems?
Africa particularly will bear the full brunt of Covid not on account of disease burden but precisely on account of purchase of vaccines to manage the pandemic in their respective countries. This will be exacerbated by the dearth of technological prowess of these nations. Indeed as the French president Emmanuel Macron has alluded, the war of influence over vaccines may just have started.
And I am afraid its effects are too ghastly to contemplate!