Stopping the pandemic

Just over a year ago, the world looked on in shock as the Chinese city of Wuhan imposed the first coronavirus lockdown. Since then, people around the world have made extraordinary sacrifices and have shown great solidarity in containing the spread of the virus.

Yet, when it comes to rolling out vaccines, the world's political leaders seem to have forgotten that we are all in it together.

The European Union has in recent weeks been engaged in a dispute with vaccine makers after AstraZeneca admitted it was expecting a major shortfall in production, and has been accused of prioritizing deliveries to the UK. In response, European officials have introduced temporary export restrictions on vaccines produced in its territories, giving member states the option of limiting exports outside the EU to countries like the UK, the United States and even South Africa.

On the surface, this may look like a fight over contractual commitments gone awry, but it reveals a much uglier truth: Wealthy countries are locked in a self-defeating and ultimately avoidable zero-sum game over vaccine supplies. And it is a game that poorer countries will inevitably lose – to the cost of us all.

Rich countries have ordered enough doses to vaccinate their populations three times over, while 9 in 10 people in nearly 70 poorer countries are unlikely to be vaccinated at all this year. This is according to analysis in December 2020 by the People’s Vaccine Alliance, a group of organizations including Amnesty International campaigning for free and fair distribution of vaccines.

We know that when it comes to Covid infection and prevalence, nobody is safe until we are all safe. But the efforts of almost every rich country to snatch up vaccines reminds us of wealthy travelers paying for speedy boarding at the airport. They might be seated first, but the plane will only take off to its Covid-free destination once all the passengers – both rich and poor – are on board.

While Europeans are right to be concerned about what this dispute might mean for their access to a vaccine, we need to remember that this is a concern shared by everyone across the world. The situation in South Africa underscores exactly why the world can't afford to engage in this everyone-for-themselves approach.

Excerpted: ‘Big Pharma Must Share Their Vaccine Knowledge and Technology With the World – Now’

Commondreams.org