Global health security and islands as seen through COVID-19 and vaccination

Since the declaration of COVID-19 as a pandemic in March 2020, significant research and attention has focused on countries’ abilities and interests in enacting response measures to the spread of the coronavirus including lockdowns, travel restrictions, and vaccination programmes to contain infections, hospitalisations, and deaths. As the pandemic has continued, much discussion has also centred on the ability of islands to control borders, enact public health measures, and keep the virus out or controlled, owing in part to presumed islandness characteristics of isolation and remoteness. Drawing from ongoing empirical examples of island experiences in the context of COVID-19, this article exa…