World News: Covid-19 and Reshaping Global Geopolitics

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Category: World News - Europe

Published on Sunday, 20 December 2020 16:11

Written by Olivier Longhi

States and Governments, having become increasingly vulnerable and dependent, are investing in pharmaceutical laboratories who are empowered with a saving role that feeds their global omnipotence, to the point of drawing a geostrategy and health geopolitics.

With the announcement by the United Kingdom of the spread of a new strain of coronavirus, presented as highly contagious and spreading 70% faster than the previous one, the question now arises of the relevance of vaccination.

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Not that this is called into question as such, but with regard to the vaccines developed, a question emerges: will they be effective in combating this new strain which remains to be studied? The research which has already started will deliver its results in the days to come.

But for now, these are new lines of force that are emerging since the announcement of available vaccines and the start of a large-scale vaccination campaign. Since the announcement by the Pfizer-Entech and Moderna laboratories of the availability of vaccines, States and Governments around the world have ordered millions of doses to stop the epidemic.

Diplomatic Weapon and Distraught Nations

And at the same time to appear, on the sidelines of this wave of orders, a form of geopolitics of the vaccine, which in a few days became a formidable diplomatic and geostrategic weapon. There are several reasons for this development that it was not difficult to anticipate.

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The fear aroused by covid-19 and the now real effects on the world economy have prompted states to take precautions in order to avoid a total collapse of their respective systems, which seems a most logical reaction.

However, it is to be feared to witness, in the first place, a sort of health partition on a global scale, between countries able to acquire millions of doses of vaccines and those which cannot, partition dictated. by two world-class laboratories which will arbitrate their activity according to the capacity of States to honor their financial commitments.

Because the pharmaceutical industry, which has not escaped globalization, reacts, like any industrial sector, according to supply and demand and could use this rebounding health crisis as an additional means of strengthening its power in the face of helpless nations, ready for anything, but according to their respective means, to equip themselves with vaccines.

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To soak up the economic dimension of this reality, it suffices to remember the leaps made by the world stock markets when the vaccines were announced on the market.

Developed and Vulnerability

Except that this omnipotence could perhaps come up against the appearance of a new strain of which we do not know at present whether it will be sensitive to developed vaccines. In fact, the question is not necessarily relevant because the research undertaken will be able, in the short or medium term, to put forward one or more solutions to stem the epidemic.

On the other hand, the vulnerability of states to this health crisis could increase, making themselves more and more dependent on a pharmaceutical industry often criticized for its opacity, its taste for profit and its financial power.

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This health crisis, which is not unprecedented in the eyes of history, nevertheless refers Humanity, at least part of it, to its intrinsic fragility and vulnerability despite the material comforts at its disposal, but also to its dependence on non-state groups, here pharmaceutical laboratories, which could in the years to come, with the risk of new epidemics appearing, gain considerable weight and acquire considerable influence.

And thus, to strengthen the geostrategic dimension implied by this health crisis, child of globalization. A veritable Hydra de Lerne, the health crisis gripping the planet is thus fueling globalization through the economic flows that it hinders but which it also generates while cultivating inequalities.

Bio: Olivier Longhi has extensive experience in European history. A seasoned journalist with fifteen years of experience, he is currently professor of history and geography in the Toulouse region of France. He has held a variety of publishing positions, including Head of Agency and Chief of Publishing. A journalist, recognized blogger, editor and editorial project manager, he has trained and managed editorial teams, worked as a journalist for various local radio stations, a press and publishing consultant, and a communications consultant.