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Short abstract:

In this paper, we discuss the inability of weak states to manage vaccine safety and the transfer of responsibility to supra-national organizations or private companies. We emphasize Romania's loss of control over vaccine production, efficacy, and safety.

Long abstract:

During the Covid-19 pandemic, cooperation between states gave way to a global competition for protective equipment and in the production and distribution of vaccines. Governments of some wealthy countries signed privileged deals with manufacturers, leaving the populations of less wealthy states vulnerable to the virus and thus prolonging the pandemic. Although much attention has been devoted to vaccination-related inequity and inequalities, little attention has been paid to competition between states in the control of post-vaccination adverse reactions. This paper is concerned with the inability of weak states to control the efficacy and safety of vaccines administered to their populations. Instead, responsibility has been transferred to other levels, either the supra-national (global bodies such as WHO, or EMA and ECDC in the European Union), or the private (i.e., pharmaceutical companies producing vaccines). The case of post-socialist states supports the ‘hyperglobalist’ thesis. Weak states have ceded some of their prerogatives to supranational institutions or to large private companies. In doing so, they have given up a significant part of the autonomy and the sovereignty they previously had. The paper argues that, because of these processes of transformation and transition, the Romanian state has failed to position itself as a trustworthy and credible institutional actor whose first concern is the protection of its population during a pandemic. The paper examines the mechanisms by which Romania has lost, not only control over domestic vaccine production and distribution, but also its strategic oversight of vaccine efficacy, safety, and quality.