Regional Health and Economic Responses to the COVID-19 crisis in the EU and Latin America

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic constitutes a major health and economic challenge for the entire world. Major crises typically leave their imprint on global and/or regional cooperation. Often, the institutions of cooperation are strengthened in their wake, with the aim of addressing the causes that led to them. During the pandemic international cooperative, initiatives were launched in both the health and economic fronts. Thus, for example, COVAX, the World Health Organization (WHO)-sponsored cooperative initiative was launched to ensure access to vaccines for the world’s poorest countries. On the economic front, central banks in several countries facilitated access to dollars in the international currency market, mitigating exchange rate pressures in the early stages of the pandemic. On the other hand, crises do not always beget more cooperation. During the pandemic we have witnessed individual states resorting to ‘egoistic’ policy responses. These ranged from attempts to secure medical equipment at the expense of the other countries to con-flicts over the production and distribution of vaccines. The issue of vaccines, in particular, is crucial from both a medical and an economic perspective. So long as large parts of the population in the world remain without access to vaccines, the efforts to eradicate the vi-rus will continue to be undermined. Similarly, the recovery of the global economy will be slower and unbalanced if restrictive measures continue to disrupt economic activity due to lack of access to vaccines. The production and distribution of different COVID-19 vaccines to every person across the globe, irrespective of their economic capacity, in a timely manner, is necessary to conclusively win the fight against the pandemic. The protection of global public health against COVID-19 is a global public good, whose provision depends