Abstract
Health diplomacy has played a vital role worldwide during the coronavirus outbreak. One crucial mechanism in this regard has been “vaccine diplomacy,” which describes country efforts to share COVID-19 vaccines. China and India are ahead of other countries in bilateral vaccine donations due to their South-South Cooperation policies. Looking forward, how and why are these two countries employing their vaccine diplomacy strategies? We compare the engagement of both in this field using a Comparative Foreign Policy Analysis framework. Our results suggest that neither is acting only for altruistic reasons, because economic and political interests are the main drivers behind their strategies.
COVID-19; Health Diplomacy; Vaccine Diplomacy; China; India; South-South Cooperation
Thumbnail
Thumbnail
Thumbnail
Thumbnail
Thumbnail
Thumbnail
Source: Unicef 2021, countries vaccine donations. Updated: May 24th, 2021
Source: Unicef 2021, China and India vaccine donations. Updated: May 24th, 2021.
Source: Unicef 2021, China vaccine donations: recipient’s countries. Updated: May 24th, 2021.
Source: Vaccine donations until May 24th, 2021 (Unicef, 2021), GDP (WDI, 2020 by OWID), exportations partner share (WITS, 2019), and cases and deaths until December 31st, 2020 (JHU CSSE, 2020 by OWID). Elaborated by the authors.
Source: Unicef 2021, India vaccine donations: recipient’s countries. Updated: May 24th, 2021.
Source: Vaccine donations until May 24th, 2021 (Unicef, 2021), GDP per capita (WDI, 2020 by OWID), exportations partner share (WITS, 2019), and cases and deaths until December 31st, 2020 (JHU CSSE, 2020 by OWID). Elaborated by the authors.