Vaccine Diplomacy An Analysis of the Distribution of COVID-19 Vaccines by the World Health Organization (WHO) in the Global South during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

COVID-19 has dramatically altered the apparatus of the diplomatic sphere in the international system. Traditional dimensions and approaches on which the conceptual framework with regard to diplomacy has been underpinned were obsolete. Therefore, observing new directions in relation to diplomacy is a prerequisite thing in reshaping the international system. Rolling out vaccination against COVID-19 was the only pharmaceutical approach within which the pandemic could be mitigated. The process of manufacturing vaccines was nationalized and there was an asymmetrical distribution of vaccines among nation states which had been impacted immensely. Despite the fact that the World Health Organization (WHO) has been an imperative factor within which the equal distribution of vaccines was regularized, no proper mechanism was established in order to streamline the whole process. This paper discusses the way in which the associated factors in relation to unequal distribution were studied as well as what sort of hindrances had to be dealt by the WHO in implementing the concept of vaccine diplomacy in the wake of COVID-19 pandemic. This study adapted the neoliberal theoretical perspectives in International Relations in order to embark upon this research. Both qualitative and quantitative methods (mixed method) were followed as the research method. Post-positivist methodology was used to implement this study because this is an interpretive research. The research question has been formulated as “What were the significant factors which were exacerbated the equal distribution of COVID-19 vaccines in the global south”. The WHO has not been able to proportionately distribute the COVID vaccines in the midst of the pandemic.