On March 17, the Valdai Club and the Argentine Council on Foreign Relations (CARI) held a joint expert discussion, titled “Vaccine as a Global Public Good. Multilateralism, Cooperation and Regional Integration”.
The development of vaccines against COVID-19, the launch of their mass production and the beginning of mass vaccination in a number of countries, including Russia and Argentina, have given people around the world hope that the dangerous virus will be defeated. However, the vaccine needed by all of humanity has not yet entered the global public domain. The development and distribution of a vaccine has become a kind of arms race. A new division of the world is taking place, determining both which vaccines are approved for use in different countries and their availability.
Clearly, access to a vaccine will go a long way in promoting economic recovery around the world. So far, statistics point to a huge gap in vaccination rates between developed and developing countries. Regional cooperation can play a large role in ensuring a level playing field for vaccine access, support for poor nations, and for countries where armed conflicts continue. The experience of Russia and Argentina, which have successfully resolved the logistical and infrastructural issues associated with the mass vaccination campaign, may be useful. Russia, as a vaccine-producing country, has repeatedly declared its openness to cooperation and the establishment of the production of Russian vaccines abroad.
Are there any ways out of the new vaccine confrontation? How can Russia and Argentina contribute to this? What role do multilateralism and regional integration play in this process? These and other questions were answered by the participants during the discussion.
Speakers:
Oleg Barabanov, Programme Director of the Valdai Discussion Club
José Octavio Bordón, President of CARI
Andrey Bystritskiy, Chairman of the Board of the Valdai Club Foundation
Silvia Gold, President of Fundación Mundo Sano Spain
Victor Jeifets, Director, Ibero-American Studies Center, St.-Petersburg State University; Editor-in-Chief, “Latin America”
Ricardo Lagorio, Secretary General of CARI, Ambassador of Argentina to Russia (2017–2020)
Ana Pereiro, Director of Health Program, Fundación Mundo Sano
Enrique Pérez, Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organization (PAHO/WHO) Representative in Argentina
Carlos Javier Regazzoni, MD, PhD, Director of the Human Security and Global Health Committee, Municipality of Almirante Braun
Moderator:
Working languages: Russian, Spanish.