COVID-19 vaccine inequality is on raise

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the United Nations World Health Organization Director-General, has said that the increasing gap between the number of vaccines that are being administered in rich countries compared to the poor is becoming “more grotesque every day,” warning that the massive vaccination program in some states while others have had no vaccines creates “a false sense of security.”

The head of WHO pointed out that humanity is very close to morally failing when it comes to the fair distribution of vaccines although it has the means to address this issue. He stressed that while some countries are vaccinating their entire populations, including the youngest citizens, other states still do not have any doses to protect even the most vulnerable categories such as medics, the elderly, or those with chronic conditions.

Ghebreyesus also warned that this is rather a short-sighted strategy because not countering the virus everywhere allows it spread and further mutate making it more dangerous and vaccine immune, creating as he said “a false sense of security.”

“As long as the virus continues to circulate anywhere, people will continue to die, trade and travel will continue to be disrupted, and the economic recovery will be further delayed,” he added.

The head of WHO also stressed that every country must cooperate in countering the pandemic because knowledge of where the virus is evolving represents key information in the effort to stop its transmission everywhere at the same time. This is why the vaccines should be administered fairly.

The latest data indicates that about 455 million doses have been given so far in 162 countries. While 56% of the vaccines were given to 16% of the population in high-income countries, just 0.1% of those who live in 29 states with the lowest income – home to 9% of the world’s population – have been vaccinated.

To ensure that underdeveloped countries also receive allocations of the vaccine, the UN launched the COVAX scheme which aims to deliver vaccines to 92 of the poorest economies. However, only 31 million doses have been distributed in 57 countries so far. The target is to deliver sufficient doses to vaccinate 27% of the population in each of those states by the end of 2021

In Africa, where the majority of low-income countries are located, COVAX has been able to channel 20 million doses to over half of the African countries so far. In total, the scheme intends to deliver 600 million doses, enough to vaccinate just 20% of the population of the continent.

See also: COVAX starts to deliver first doses of COVID-19 vaccines to Africa

Some African states have almost completely used up the doses they received, as is the case of Ghana which received 600,000 doses and has administered 420,000 of them, or Rwanda where 320,000 people were vaccinated using the 400,000 doses donated by India. At the same time, three African countries have decided not to engage in the COVAX scheme. Tanzania and Madagascar have said that they have no plan to vaccinate their populations and Burundi has stated that it does not need vaccinations.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus also observed that not all the vaccines manufacturers have the same approach towards developing needs. He stated that only AstraZeneca has decided not to benefit from producing the vaccines during the pandemic and had given the license to produce their jabs to other companies in Korea and India which make 90% of doses that are distributed within the COVAX scheme.