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A recent study by the People’s Vaccine Alliance, a coalition of organizations that includes Oxfam, ActionAid and Amnesty International, reported that only 14% of the doses of Covid-19 vaccines, promised by the most developed countries, have been delivered to the poor nations of the entire planet. The report highlights that the pandemic is “unnecessarily” prolonged due to inequity in immunization.
At the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, world leaders promised that all nations were on the same team to face the emergency, but the reality has been different. The irony? Until everyone crosses the finish line in the race for immunization, the virus will continue to win.
This is highlighted in the most recent People’s Vaccine Alliance study, published on October 21, entitled “Dose of Reality.” The group of organizations that includes Oxfam, Amnesty International, among others, points out that of the 1,800 doses of vaccines promised by developed nations, 261 million have reached the poorest territories on the planet. That is, only 14%.
In this context, and about a year after vaccines became available, only 1.3% of citizens of economically disadvantaged countries are fully inoculated.
The coalition holds pharmaceutical companies and the hoarding of vaccines by wealthier nations responsible for contributing to immunization inequity.
Here is a review of the promises made by the major powers versus the deliveries made.
Only one in seven promised doses have been delivered to poor countries
The People’s Vaccine Alliance report indicates that the UK has so far delivered less than 10% of the drugs it promised. In other words, of 100 million doses announced, it has only given 9.6 million.
The Government of Canada reported that it would give 40 million doses, but it has only delivered 3.2 million, 8% of what it said it would grant.
The United States is the country that has donated the most vaccines. However, it is still far from what its authorities announced. Of 177 million doses promised, it has granted 1,100 million. It is about 16% of what is offered.
In relation to the 994 million doses that political leaders said they would give to Covax, the global system that attempts to distribute equitable vaccines, so far the organization has only received 120 million, which is equivalent to 12% of what was promised.
These delivery figures equate to one in seven doses offered and demonstrate “the failure of donations from rich countries and the failure of Covax,” Robbie Silverman, Oxfam’s senior manager of advocacy, was quoted as saying by The Guardian.
The coalition in charge of the report also highlights business relationships between companies that produce the drugs and high-income countries. The document highlights that almost half, 49%, of the immunization injections sold by AstraZeneza, Pfizer / BioNTech, Moderna and Johnson and Johnson, have been delivered to countries with large financial resources. Those nations correspond to only 16% of the world’s population.
At the other extreme, in cases like Russia, only 32% of the country’s 146 million inhabitants are fully immunized, despite the broad provision of Sputnik V.
There, the low vaccination rates are due to the skepticism and reluctance of a large part of the population towards these drugs. The situation has triggered records of deaths and infections, so on October 19, the country’s authorities were forced to revive some of the restrictions to try to stop the spread of the virus.
The call to suspend patents on vaccines against Covid-19
Around 100 nations, including India and South Africa, and human rights groups such as Doctors Without Borders and Human Rights Watch, have asked the World Trade Organization to suspend the application of patents for drugs against the new coronavirus so that the inoculation reaches the poorest countries.
The call was also backed by the president of the United States, Joe Biden, and more than 60 former heads of state who believe that suspending intellectual property rights on vaccines will speed up vaccination against this virus on the planet.
However, the European Union (EU) has strongly opposed that possibility. Brussels says suspending drug patents will not solve the main problem: the shortage of vaccines. They defend that it is not only about intellectual property but also logistics and time. “There is no evidence that shows that patents are the problem,” official sources have indicated, cited by the Spanish press.
The truth is that while the inequity in the distribution of vaccines remains, hundreds of people continue to die. “All over the world, health workers are dying and children are losing their parents and grandparents. Since 99% of people in low-income countries are not yet vaccinated, we have had enough of these few late gestures, “said Maaza Seyoum, representative of People’s Vaccine Alliance Africa.
The World Health Organization publicly warned that dosing developing countries before the end of this year must be a priority to prevent more deaths. However, the nations with the most vaccines on their hands are only working to a schedule for delivering more doses sometime in 2022. That delay will lead to unnecessary deaths, the report warns.
With local media
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