While developing and under-developed nations are struggling to meet the vaccine demands of their population, the comparatively wealthier countries of the world are likely going to have over one billion vaccines in addition to what they need by the end of this year. These will be the shots not reserved to be donated to poorer countries, a recent analysis showed.
The richer countries reached the 500 million doses mark in September. As per the data analytics firm Airfinity’s research, atleast 360 million of these aren’t designated for donations to other countries. By 2021’s end, this number will reach 1.2 billion and the major chunk of it- 1.06 billion- will be not earmarked for donations.
On September, 7th, the firm will publish a full report detailing the available vaccines in the United Kingdom, United States, Japan, Canada and Europe.
Since the pandemic’s emergence and vaccine availability, international agencies have attempted to provide a fair share of shots to the poorer nations. The UN-backed COVAX too aimed to offer 2 billion vaccines to the citizens of 190 countries in 2021. This included 92 lower-income nations to ensure a minimum of 20 per cent of their people get inoculated.
However, this could not be achieved as vaccine hoarding is taking up the major chunk of the doses available. This is due to the deals between richer countries and vaccine producers, which is stopping other countries from accessing vaccines.
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The global inequity of vaccines is “unacceptable”, the director of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, told on Sunday during a meeting of the G20 health ministers.
Till now, around 75 per cent of the 5 million vaccines given in the world were administered in only 10 countries. This directs to the fact that a mere 25 per cent came in the hands of the nations that have much more population and requirements. Africa, one of the poorer nations, received only 2 per cent of this, he noted.
John Nkengasong, the head of the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) agreed with the WHO director and called the vaccine rollout in Africa a “total disappointment”.
While poorer countries are struggling to receive the required vaccines, wealthier ones are hoarding them, former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said, accusing these countries of committing a “moral outrage”.
He urged US President Joe Biden along with the other Group of Seven Leaders to send the vaccines stockpiled in Europe and America to Africa on an urgent basis.
“We are in a new ‘arms’ race – to get vaccines into people as quickly as possible – but this is an arms race where the West have a stranglehold on the vaccine supplies,” Brown, UN’s special envoy, said.
