In Tallinn University New Podcast We Introduce the Concept of Vaccine Diplomacy
In the fifth episode of our English language podcast Terry McDonald (TLU SOGOLAS) invites Dr. Mika Aaltola (Finnish Institute of International Affairs / TLU SOGOLAS) to introduce us vaccine diplomacy – the “One World, One Health” idea.
The topics that are covered in the discussion are what vaccine diplomacy is, and what it means for the future of global politics.
In the words of Dr. Aaltola, “It tells the citizens of the particular country who is actually able to take care of their health. It is a very personal relationship, it is not about giving military aid, building a harbor. It is giving something straight to citizens of a particular country. It can be compared to food aid, in that respect, it kind of fulfils a basic needs.”
Vaccines are not produced by countries anywhere in the world. They are done by multinational corporations, most of them are American. “When I got my vaccination last week, it’s an American made vaccine produced in Europe. It is a complicated situation and it is very natural for common citizens to think about in terms of nation states. But it is actually a complicated interdependent process by which vaccines are produced. They are made out of twenty-two hundred different components and those components are produced in about thirteen nations. They are very interdependent,” Dr. Aaltola explains.
To find out whether and how China, Russia, the USA, and Europe are handling it, listen to the podcast here: