The deployment of Covid-19 vaccines brings hope that the onslaught of the virus will soon cease, but the unsettled world within which the virus emerged remains. Indeed, while many of the vaccines are proving miraculous in their efficacy, they risk worsening pre-existing geopolitical frictions and fault lines.

Already vaccines have been compared to military assets in their ability to strengthen a country’s power and influence, and there is concern that global inequities will grow ever more pronounced, as developing economies are not part of the first round of vaccine distribution and are fiscally constrained in how they can respond to economic crises.  ..

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