Bristol University Press
4 Pandemic Crisis and Inequalities
Abstract
Chapter 4 examines the inequalities made evident or reinforced by the COVID-19 pandemic crisis, drawing on research published in the three years after its onset. I revisit the UN’s initial plea to the rich G20 countries to make a coordinated response to the pandemic and evaluate subsequent responses. As I note, the UN and the World Health Organization outlined the massive economic and social disruptions of the pandemic, making a plea for global solidarity led by the G20, which met with a limited response. While many governments implemented stimulus measures, in line with the UN’s call, support packages were selective in their application, and the measures have had inequitable impacts. Three years after the declaration of the emergency, research showed that stimulatory measures had been excessive and fuelled inflation, which affected businesses and citizens’ standard of living. They also disproportionately negatively affected poorer countries, which contributed to the creation of a ‘two-speed global economy’. The chapter discusses the factors that contributed to the failures of the G20, manifest in unequal access to vaccines and so-called vaccine nationalism – a key issue in the second year of the pandemic. The chapter also examines critical evaluations of pandemic preparedness and response undertaken by a WHO-commissioned panel, and other evidence on growing wealth disparities linked to COVID-19 responses.
Abstract
Chapter 4 examines the inequalities made evident or reinforced by the COVID-19 pandemic crisis, drawing on research published in the three years after its onset. I revisit the UN’s initial plea to the rich G20 countries to make a coordinated response to the pandemic and evaluate subsequent responses. As I note, the UN and the World Health Organization outlined the massive economic and social disruptions of the pandemic, making a plea for global solidarity led by the G20, which met with a limited response. While many governments implemented stimulus measures, in line with the UN’s call, support packages were selective in their application, and the measures have had inequitable impacts. Three years after the declaration of the emergency, research showed that stimulatory measures had been excessive and fuelled inflation, which affected businesses and citizens’ standard of living. They also disproportionately negatively affected poorer countries, which contributed to the creation of a ‘two-speed global economy’. The chapter discusses the factors that contributed to the failures of the G20, manifest in unequal access to vaccines and so-called vaccine nationalism – a key issue in the second year of the pandemic. The chapter also examines critical evaluations of pandemic preparedness and response undertaken by a WHO-commissioned panel, and other evidence on growing wealth disparities linked to COVID-19 responses.
Chapters in this book
- Front Matter i
- Contents iii
- Acknowledgements iv
- Pandemics as Socio-Political Phenomena 1
- The Politics of Framing a Pandemic Crisis 25
- Modelling Pandemics 50
- Pandemic Crisis and Inequalities 71
- Pandemic Crisis and Technological Change 86
- Future Pandemic Societies 108
- References 130
- Index 162
Chapters in this book
- Front Matter i
- Contents iii
- Acknowledgements iv
- Pandemics as Socio-Political Phenomena 1
- The Politics of Framing a Pandemic Crisis 25
- Modelling Pandemics 50
- Pandemic Crisis and Inequalities 71
- Pandemic Crisis and Technological Change 86
- Future Pandemic Societies 108
- References 130
- Index 162
