The Comparative Politics of COVID-19 Pandemic Response in Brazil, Belgium, and

Vietnam

Covid-19 has made a tremendous impact towards global health and politics. It has
created a boiling point and crucial time in economics, politics, and public health throughout
many states and countries around the world. Evidently, this current pandemic is a serious public
health challenge that requires a radical response or solution in the field of medicine in countries
and states all over the world. But on the other hand, the response of many countries to the
Covid-19 pandemic depends on policies and politics they have. 
There is no other way to assimilate the various responses of different countries to Covid-19 and
their consequences without proper understanding policies and politics. The gap and
disassociation between scholars of public health and scholars of politics is long-established.
Consequently, for example, there is a risk and high tendency that the scholars of public health
and medical researchers will just recycle political theories that are very macroscopic to elucidate
much. They might overlook also the subtleness of political and social contexts as well as
policies. There is a tendency also that scholars of public health would neglect the mid-level
theories on topics such as political institutions in favor of explication that are gigantic and
imprecise. There is the same or equal tendency that political and social researchers will publish
analysis and studies that would attempt to classify mortality and morbidity to politics and policy
without fully understanding the severe and highly political boundaries and limitations on data
about COVID-19 pandemic imputable mortality and infections. 
The goal of the human beings across and within states and countries is to begin to elucidate
and identify what really matters in coping and managing COVID-19. The COVID-19 pandemic
gives the opportunity to remedy these disciplinary gaps throughout the world. 

Countries in Latin America are facing the spread of COVID-19. It arrived late in South
America on the 25th of February 2020.  Latin America has recorded more than 65 000 cases of
COVID-19. Three significant policy considerations have emerged as the pandemic throughout
Latin American countries. Firstly, the national leadership and its coordination with local
governments are paramount, along with reliable and transparent communication of health
measures such as handwashing, physical distancing, and face covering. Secondly, countries
should manage asynchronous waves of transmission within their borders by executing
widespread mass testing, contact tracing, and isolation of contacts without military or police
repression. Thirdly, governments should provide sufficient short and medium-term financial
security for individuals in need, with efficient services and measures such as postponing or
delaying payment for essential utilities and direct money transfers to purchase foods and other
essentials. Most importantly, Latin American governments must act conclusively and decisively
to secure their populations against COVID-19 while taking extreme health measures to prevent
an economic collapse that would worsen the Latin America's pre-existing struggle against
inequality and poverty.
Brazil was the first country in Latin America to report the COVID-19. By the 21st of March 2020,
the disease had spread to every state in Brazil. The World Health Organization recognized
Brazil as one of the worst affected countries across the globe. COVID-19 has set off a variety of
responses from federal, state, and local governments, affecting education, environment,
economy, and politics.

European countries began to be considered by the World Health Organization as the

active center of the COVID-19 pandemic. As of March, all European countries had confirmed
cases of the disease. Obviously, Europe is struggling with tragedy caused by COVID-19 but the
crisis that Europe is facing is not just about health, it is about politics as well.
  Belgium is one of the countries in Europe that is part of the ongoing global pandemic of
COVID-19. This country is the symbolic heart of Europe and the headquarters of the North
Atlantic Treaty Organization and European Union. But regardless of this symbolic significance,
Belgium has now risen to the highest point of the mortality league table of Johns Hopkins
Coronavirus Resource Center. Evidently, Belgium's mortality rate is high. Country's first case of
COVID-19 was recorded on February 4 and the first death occurred on March 11. A lockdown
was implemented on March 18 until May 4. The second lockdown was implemented on
November 2 and lasted until December 13. The second lockdown is due to a virus surged back. 

Asia is where COVID-19 originated. Novel Coronavirus disease - COVID-19 crisis was
the outbreak of a growing viral pneumonia in Wuhan City, China in 2019. Currently, Coronavirus
disease spreads in 198 countries around the globe. The disease has exposed the problems and
deficiencies in public health systems across Asian countries and emphasized the
interdependence between economic stability, health security, and political stability. Although the
COVID-19 pandemic hit the Asian region first, its countries particularly Southeast Asian
countries have to date reported significantly lower mortality rates per capita compared with other
regions.
 Vietnam is one of the earliest countries to report Novel Coronavirus 2019 cases after the
outbreak in China. In spite of the fact that this country recorded its first case of COVID-19 on
January 23, it reported only a little more than 300 cases and zero deaths over the four following
months.

Drawing on health politics research and comparative politics, the researcher identified
three broad hypotheses for research on comparative and political responses of Brazil, Belgium,
and Vietnam on the COVID-19 pandemic.

Exhibit A: Regime type

Regime type really matters when we contemplate communication dimensions of the

pandemic-fighting strategy. In a political science term, regime is the mode of rule of a
government. It refers also to the fundamental cluster of institutions in a country or state, more
than any one type of politician, for example, authoritarian, monarchical, totalitarian or
democratic. Comparative study on regime types such as authoritarian and democratic regimes
within particular countries or states has honed some of our expectations about regime effects. In
our present time, for better understanding of COVID-19 politics, the most promising hypothesis
comes from comparative study about democracy and authoritarianism.
Democratic regimes may have more challenges taking forceful or even suitable action but can
benefit from better public trust and information flow. While authoritarian regimes are awful at
keeping up or maintaining the internal and external flow of proper and good information,
however just some are acceptable at powerful activity.

Brazil is a federal presidential representative democratic republic. The central

government is controlled by the federal government. It is divided into three independent
branches: executive, legislative, and judiciary. The incumbent president of Brazil is President
Jair Bolsonaro. Regime type hardly matters when it comes to Brazil's situation. COVID-19
exposed the poor policy response of the government. Bolsonaro used an authoritarian approach
to address the spread of the disease within the country but it only damaged the flow of
information. The ongoing political realities in Brazil revealed by Bolsonaro and his
administration's response to pandemic. He politicized the Ministry of Health through firing the
Minister of Health and appointing an Army General with no medical experience. Bolsonaro has
repeatedly opposed the suggestions and recommendations of medical experts and governors.
President Bolsonaro has emphasized his traditional family values and repeatedly shown his
authoritarian style of leadership since his election into office in 2018. Although Bolsonaro has an
authoritarian leadership style, the strong democratic institutions of Brazil are limiting his policy
authority.

Belgium is a representative democratic, constitutional monarchy, federal parliamentary.

King Philippe is the head of state and the current King of the Belgians. Alexander De Croo is the
head of the federal government and the incumbent Prime Minister of Belgium. When the
COVID-19 was confirmed to have spread to Belgium on February 4, the Prime Minister was
Sophie Wilmès- a Belgian politician who has served as the incumbent Minister of Foreign
Affairs. On 16 March 2020, Wilmès was granted full legislative powers by major parties in order
to fight the COVID-19 pandemic.  According to the terms of the treaty, Prime Minister Wilmès
was granted emergency powers to address the pandemic's social and economic crisisbelgium.
These special powers were to last for three months and could be renewed once only for up to a
further three months by political parties. Due to rising covid cases, Wilmès implemented the
closure of bars, restaurants, schools and other establishments. Although she was given special
powers, she still failed to address COVID-19 worsening case. Her special powers expired in
June and she finally failed with her Covid lockdown policy. Political parties did not give other
special powers to Wilmès. The King of Belgians replaced Wilmès and appointed the incumbent
Prime Minister Alexander De Croo. By that, the regime type of Brazil really matters especially
when it comes to virus-fighting strategy. Elected politicians from their respective political parties
in the chamber of representatives have the power to grant special powers to the head of
government. Now, the responsibility of COVID-19 response is in the hands of Prime Minister
Alexander De Croo.

Vietnam is a Unitary Marxist-Leninist one-party socialist republic. The General Secretary

of the Communist Party of Vietnam is Nguyên Phú Trong who serves as the Party leader,
president, and head of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee Communist Party of
Vietnam- the highest position in the one-party system.  The president who serves as the head of
state, is elected by the National Assembly and acts as the commander-in-chief of the Vietnam
People's Armed Forces. While the main executive power of Vietnam is headed by the Prime
Minister. The incumbent Prime Minister is Nguyễn Xuân Phúc. The COVID-19 success of
Vietnam is one of the greatest achievements of its regime and the Communist Party. The
government earned the Vietnamese public's trust through their decisive actions and excellent
strategy on fighting the spread of COVID-19 pandemic. It is truly impressive that Vietnam has
hundreds of cases with only 10 deaths as of August. This reported data is very low compared to
other countries around the world. Government's effectiveness and transparency is one of the
keys to their success. Vietnamese people really trust their government. The success with
COVID-19 containment of Vietnam's regime proves that the party is highly competent in
addressing health crises and coordinating with local authorities.

Among the three countries, Brazil has the highest COVID-19 cases. As we analyzed the
action of the government of Brazil, this is contradicting its regime type. President Bolsonaro
insists his authoritarian approach in fighting the pandemic. Failure to flattened the curve and
continuous suffering of the people is the aftermath of Bolsonaro’s authoritarian approach.  The
death toll of Brazil is rising steadily, a very high percentage of COVID patients going into
intensive care units (ICU) were dying and a lot of medical staff were falling sick. On the brighter
side, although Bolsonaro uses an authoritarian approach, the regime type hardly matters in
Brazil because it is limiting the policy authority of the President. Bolsonaro implemented
destructive denialist approaches to the COVID-19 pandemic, which undermined efforts to
respond successfully.
 While in Belgium, the former Prime Minister has also failed to address the pandemic because
she relied solely on the lockdown and did not properly use her granted special powers until it
became expired.  The regime type matters in Belgium (monarchical and democratic) because
political parties in the chamber of representatives did not grant another three months
emergency power to the former prime minister and the King of Belgians replaced the former
prime minister with his newly appointed prime minister. 
Seeing that three countries, Vietnam is the only successful in battling COVID-19 pandemic. The
regime matters in Vietnam because its government which is led by the Communist Party of
Vietnam has successfully flattened the curve with only few deaths compared to Brazil and
Belgium. The Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) strengthened its legitimacy in the midst of
criticism toward how the party handled several issues in the past few years and regained its
people’s trust through successfully handling the coronavirus outbreak. Vietnam's government
used diplomatic strategies and messages. It is obvious that Vietnam has differed in its behavior
compared with developed European countries and the United States of America- the world's
most powerful nation. The government has largely been recognized for Vietnam's success in
maintaining COVID-19 transmission rates and mortality rates under control due to its quick and
swift decision-making and effective public health messaging. Obviously, among three countries
that we compared, Vietnam successfully addressed the COVID-19 pandemic over Brazil and
Belgium. The government of Vietnam truly maximizes its power to make sure that the pandemic
will not spread throughout the country. The regime type of Vietnam really matters in coping and
managing the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
Exhibit B: State and healthcare capacity

State capacity refers to a state's ability to successfully execute decisions in domestic

and foreign policy. State capacity is also determined from the combinations of operational,
analytical, and political competencies. The ability to collect taxes, provide public goods, enforce
law and order, implement social programs, and provide the welfare of the citizens are some
state capacity that is needed before we identify a country that is having strong capacity. The
control over health care systems and public administrations matters as well as state capacity
matters to all available options of government in its response to address the COVID-19
pandemic. Many researchers assumed that rich countries who have strong state capacity will
address the pandemic successfully over poor countries but we have witnessed lower-income
states such as Vietnam executed a more effective and efficient public health response to
COVID-19 pandemic compared with some higher income countries such as Brazil and Belgium.
It is true that that state capacity matters in order to deliver services and enforce rules and
regulations. But having strong state capacity such as Belgium does not mean it will be used
well. But we cannot deny as well that strong or weak state capacity changes available options of
policy significantly. State capacity also requires a certain degree of legal and political
centralization.
In most cases, it is too early to identify and distinguish the results and effect of policy decisions
on the course of the current COVID-19 pandemic. But starting to understand why governments
make the decisions that they implement will not be too early. Research and studies to fight and
address the COVID-19 pandemic that takes politics and governance as a serious and significant
focus can enable the development and improvement of more factual interventions in policies
and form our comprehensive understanding of public health politics.

Brazil has 105 hospitals and a total of 480,332 hospital beds. 66 percent of the hospital
are private and 34 percent of the hospital are public. The country’s health care is a constitutional
right. Healthcare is provided by both government institutions and the private sector.  The
national health policy is administered by the Health Minister. It is in the responsibilities of the
federal government the primary healthcare of the country. The operations of the hospitals are
supervised by individual states. Through the National Healthcare System also known as the
Unified Health System, the public healthcare is provided to all Brazilian citizens and foreigners
within the territory of Brazil. The country has one of the largest free universal health care
systems around the globe which functions together with the private institutions available to
Brazilian citizens with insurance plans. Although the free universal health care system is
accessible to the public, wealthier or richer citizens of the country have the majority of patients
in private hospitals. Private hospitals have 50 percent of Intensive Care Unit (ICU) beds in
Brazil. However, the healthcare system of Brazil is not ready for the coronavirus pandemic. The
public hospitals capacity of the country is already strained. As the researcher mentioned in
exhibit A, the authoritarian approach of Bolsonaro results in reckless policies that will hit the
poor the hardest.  One of the examples of President Bolsonaro’s reckless policy is cutting the
health budget of the country in 2021 despite the pandemic.  At the time of the COVID-19
pandemic, the administration of President Bolsonaro plans to cut the Ministry of Health 2021
budget to R$127.8 billion compared to this year’s budget R$134.7 billion.

Belgium is a wealthier and developed country compared to Brazil and Vietnam. The
country has an advanced high-income economy and very high standards of living. The quality of
life, education, and healthcare in Belgium is very high according to the Human Development
Index. The country is one of the founding members of European community and it is the capital
of European Union.  Belgium spends 10 percent of its annual Gross Domestic Product on
healthcare system expenses. It is true that the country’s health care system is one of the best in
Europe. Healthcare system is divided into state and private institutions. The healthcare system
of the state is funded by obligatory health insurance which allows the people to access services
such as doctors, prescriptions, hospital care, dental care, and maternity costs. Healthcare in
Belgium is in the responsibilities of both federal and regional governments. Belgium’s healthcare
system is funded by a combination of social security donations and health insurance. Health
insurance funds will cover the prescription costs, basic dental costs, maternity costs, and the
costs for doctors, hospitals, and clinics. However, even though Belgium is one of the countries
that have the best healthcare system around the world, the coronavirus is still raging in the
country and now the Europe’s worst epicenter of COVID-19 pandemic. The country’s COVID-19
health care will nearly collapse because more than 300,000 out of Belgium’s 11 million citizens
are infected with the coronavirus as of December 2020. As of October, Belgium reported its
largest daily infection number on record with more than 20,000 cases.  Belgium’s ICU almost hit
the maximum capacity of its healthcare facilities. The coronavirus has killed more than ten
thousand people in Belgium. The country introduces a series of restrictive health measures
aimed at slowing the pace of coronavirus infections that include closing bars in Brussels for at
least a month, including local curfews and limiting indoor sports. Despite the failure to address
the pandemic, the government is still optimistic and hoping that they will flat the curve in March
to April through stricter measures. The government provided an application for smartphone
users that will allow them tracing people that they encountered. 

Vietnam is a developing country and low-income state compared to Belgium and Brazil.
Despite being a poor country, Vietnam successfully flat the curve of coronavirus infections due
to its healthcare system’s policies and strategies. In comparison to its neighboring countries in
southeast Asia, health care indicators of Vietnam outperform and beat the average and continue
to develop the healthcare system. Out of 191 members of the World Health Organization,
Vietnam ranks 116 among them. In the past few years, we can see that Vietnam's average life
expectancy was 71 years old. This is an implication of a very good state and healthcare
capacity. But compared with Belgium, Vietnam has a weaker healthcare system and low budget
for fighting the COVID-19 pandemic. However, despite having a limited budget, Vietnam
managed its coronavirus infection rate very low. This is because of Vietnam’s hard quarantine
policies and massive tracing of all people who came in contact with coronavirus. These health
measures were executed much earlier than neighboring countries. Vietnam is maximizing its
state capacity. The country is not depending only on its health care system. Vietnam has strong
state security apparatus. It has applied a general system of public surveillance, helped along by
the military. Communist Party security officials can be found on every street in every village. The
government properly enforced the rules and regulations against coronavirus. This is an
implication of state capacity. The government has successfully called on the unity of all
Vietnamese to defeat the COVID-19 pandemic through framing the virus as a common foreign
enemy. The Communist Party of Vietnam is the one who led the fight against the pandemic with
the motto fighting the pandemic is like fighting against our enemy.
As we compare these three countries on their state and health care capacity, we are
clearly witnessing which country has the most effective protocols and health measures.
Although Belgium and Brazil are wealthier than Vietnam, it does not matter when it comes to
decisiveness and strategic actions of the leaders. Evidently, Vietnam has the most effective and
successful response compared with Belgium and Brazil. It is true that healthcare in large
capacity matters but it is useless if the leaders and government officials are not strategic and
reckless in their response to beat the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
Exhibit C: Social policies

Social policy really matters for health crisis response. Social and physical distancing and
economic shutdowns temporarily are examples of authoritarian approaches to public health
measures. These approaches will be good depending on societal compliance. Together with
trust and good communication, compliance requires a political economy that permits people to
stay at their homes without starving. The existing social policies of the countries mentioned in
this research will shape the extent of the compliance of the people with public health measures. 

Brazil's first social policy is to isolate for 7 days those who are travelling to their country.
As of March 17, the government of Brazil closed their border with Venezuela.  Another social
policy of the country is declaring a state of emergency in order to close all non-essential
businesses and suspend public transportation, religious activities, sports events and concerts.
However, despite these good social policies, the president of Brazil has ignored the warnings of
health experts. He did not take seriously the threat of the virus. As a matter of fact, he has
rejected proposals to suspend interstate travels between states with virus cases. He argued that
extreme health measures will hurt the economy.  Bolsonaro described the threat of the
coronavirus as being exaggerated and created by the media. President Bolsonaro faced
criticism for his reckless social policies such as not wearing a mask and ignoring health experts'
advice.

Belgium's effort in combating the COVID-19 pandemic are managed by the 9 federal and
health ministers. As of January, Belgium has a social policy on travel notice advising the
cancellations of flights to China. On March 10, the government of Belgium advised its people to
suspend any indoor scheduled activities for the month of March. As of the first week of March,
the Prime Minister of the country has not a social policy that will close all schools. Schools
remained open throughout the country. After a week, the Prime Minister decided to close all
schools and non-essentials businesses. This late response resulted in increased cases of
coronavirus in Belgium. The government of Belgium faced criticism for its lack of action. Belgian
government did not implement strict prevention measures that caused danger to the people.
Lousy social policies of Belgian government resulted in very high mortality rates. 
 Vietnam’s social policies became successful in beating the outbreak of COVID-19.
Vietnam easily controlled the spread of coronavirus pandemic through its four significant social
policies. Firstly, the quick strategic mass testing, Vietnam implemented COVID testing at
airports. Those who have cough, chest pain or breathing difficulties, and fever were isolated and
quarantined for 14 days. Secondly, Vietnam’s aggressive contact tracing, the country cancelled
all foreign flights and ratified an obligatory 14-day quarantine for everyone arriving in the
country. Extensive and massive contact tracing was possible through the Ministry of Health’s
records of suspected, exposed, and infected of COVID-19. The government provided an
application for smartphone users for implementing contact tracing with the help of technology.
Thirdly, the government has an effective public communications campaign against the
pandemic. The Communist Party of Vietnam did not shy away to broadcast the threat of the
coronavirus. They made videos and music that will make the people aware. Lastly, the
government’s immediate development of testing kits. Vietnam’s COVID-19 test kit was
developed by their own scientists within a month. It is very affordable, fast, and effective. It can
diagnose suspected COVID-19 infections in just a few hours. 

In comparing these three countries on their respective social policies, we can see the
lapses and ineffectiveness of Brazil and Belgium in fighting the pandemic. Vietnam’s success
story on battling COVID 19 pandemic proves that effective governance matters the most. The
four social policies of Vietnam may become an inspiration to all the countries in beating COVID-
19 pandemic. fragmented government authorities, regional divisions, individualism and lack of
coordination have led Brazil and Belgium to fail the battle against COVID-19 pandemic.