A Vaccine That Was Hijacked by the Rich

A health worker fills a syringe with vaccine at a Rohingya refugee camp in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh. Credit: UNICEF/Patrick Brown. By Thalif DeenUNITED NATIONS, Dec 11 2020 (IPS) There is a longstanding belief that virtually everything in this world is stacked up against the poor and the downtrodden. The Covid-19 vaccine is no exception because some of world’s richest nations, including the US, Canada and UK, seem to have cornered most of the supplies — whilst marginalizing the world’s poorer nations. The move towards hijacking the newly-found remedy has triggered a new brand of misguided patriotism: vaccine nationalism. According to a report on Cable News Network (CNN) December 9, the histrionics from American and British leaders point to growing vaccine nationalism in wealthier nations. Rich countries with 14% of the world’s population have bought more than half of all the most promising vaccines, according to the People’s Vaccine Alliance, an international coalition of health and humanitarian organizations. Nine out of 10 people living in 67 poor countries will miss out on the vaccine in 2021, the Alliance said, pointing out the deals made by rich countries mean they have “hoarded enough doses to vaccinate their entire populations nearly 3 times over.” Canada has reportedly bought enough doses to immunize its citizens five times over. “Unless something changes dramatically, billions of people around the world will not receive a safe and effective vac...
Source: IPS Inter Press Service - Health - Category: International Medicine & Public Health Authors: Tags: Development & Aid Education Featured Global Globalisation Headlines Health Inequity Poverty & SDGs TerraViva United Nations Source Type: news