Hal Brands, Columnist

Vaccine Diplomacy Is the New Space Race

And this time it’s the U.S. against China.

November 17, 2020 at 2:00 PM UTC

Hal Brands is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist and the Henry Kissinger Distinguished Professor at Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies.

Diplomacy by another name.
Photographer: Mladen Antonov/AFP/Getty Images

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The space race was the ultimate symbol of Cold War technological competition between the U.S. and the Soviet Union. Now, imagine if that race had been a matter of life and death for millions of people around the world. Those are the stakes involved in producing and globally distributing a Covid-19 vaccine.

That unavoidably competitive endeavor will do much to determine how Covid-19 ultimately affects the balance of global power and prestige. For the incoming Joe Biden administration, it offers a strategic opportunity.