Northwestern University, Department of Sociology, 1810 Chicago Avenue, 60208, Evanston, IL, USA.
Soc Sci Med. 2022 Jun;303:115022. doi: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2022.115022. Epub 2022 May 9.
This article examines the Israeli vaccination campaign against COVID-19, focusing on the state's acquisition of the vaccines from the pharmaceutical company Pfizer. In December 2020, Israel signed an agreement with Pfizer to purchase enough doses to vaccinate its entire population. In the months that followed, the country became a world leader in vaccination rates. But how was Israel able to purchase large quantities of then-scarce vaccines in the first place? To answer this question, I examine reports and publications by government and civil society bodies as well as news coverage about the campaign. Drawing on insights from the sociology of the state and from science and technology studies, I argue that Israel was able to secure vaccines by using its state-power as a form of currency. Theoretically, I suggest the term "infrastructural capital" - which I define as the resources a state can provide to an external capitalist actor by virtue of its power - to explain how Israel traded with Pfizer. In the conclusion, I discuss the potential implications of this case for other cases.
这篇文章考察了以色列针对 COVID-19 的疫苗接种运动，重点关注该国从制药公司辉瑞公司采购疫苗的情况。2020 年 12 月，以色列与辉瑞公司签署协议，购买足以为其全体人口接种的疫苗剂量。在接下来的几个月里，该国成为疫苗接种率的世界领先者。但以色列最初是如何能够购买到大量当时稀缺的疫苗的呢？为了回答这个问题，我查阅了政府和民间社会组织的报告和出版物，以及有关该运动的新闻报道。借鉴国家社会学以及科学技术研究的观点，我认为，以色列通过将其国家权力作为一种货币形式，成功地确保了疫苗供应。从理论上讲，我建议使用“基础设施资本”一词——我将其定义为一个国家凭借其权力可以为外部资本主义行为体提供的资源——来解释以色列与辉瑞公司的交易方式。在结论部分，我讨论了这一案例对其他案例的潜在影响。
