“Only ten countries administered 75% of all covid-19 vaccines. Meanwhile, more than 130 countries have not received a single dose. “This is the observation made by the Secretary General of the United Nations, Antonio Gutteres, on February 17.
Indeed, if 100 million doses of anti-covid vaccines had already been administered worldwide as of February 2, the gap between rich countries and poor countries is immense. 77 countries have launched their vaccination campaign, the most advanced being Israel, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom and the United States, when several African countries do not register any vaccination on their territory. Thus, more than a third of the world population (35%) lives in countries which have not yet started to vaccinate.
“Global public good”
Yet at the start of the pandemic, everything seemed to be on track to ensure equal and fair access to immunization around the world. On April 24, 2020, many countries publicly committed to theWorld Health Organization (WHO) to speed up vaccine production and ensure equitable access.
And European leaders then spoke of the vaccine as a “unique global public good of the 21st century“.
The Covax, a solidarity device
In line with this idea, in September 2020, the WHO and the Alliance for Vaccines (Gavi) create the Covax solidarity system which must allow an equitable distribution of anti-covid vaccines.
Its goal: to distribute anti-covid vaccines to 20% of the population of the 190 participating countries and territories. It also includes a funding mechanism that allows 92 low and middle income economies to access the valuable doses.
First countries to appear on the list: North Korea, Algeria, Gaza, but also India, Pakistan, Nigeria, Indonesia and Brazil, which should receive the first doses from the end of February 2021.
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“Vaccine nationalism”
But in the fall, when the marketing of vaccines becomes imminent, it is the “every man for himself” who wins. In September 2020, the NGO Oxfam reveals that a group of rich countries, representing 13% of the world’s population, has reserved half of future doses of vaccines, through direct agreements with laboratories.
The United States, as of May, then the United Kingdom, the European Union and even Japan have signed multiple contracts guaranteeing the production and delivery of doses in advance.
Agreements with hints of “vaccine nationalism“denounced by the WHO, which still called on January 8, 2021 the rich countries to stop”bilateral agreements“with laboratories and to show greater vaccine solidarity.”I urge manufacturers to prioritize deployment “ vaccines through the Covax mechanism insisted WHO Director Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
Vaccinating the South also protects the North
Such agreements risk “increase the price“vaccines and consequently make them inaccessible to the poorest countries.
Problem, in addition to the ethical question: a vaccine imbalance on a global scale would make the fight against the pandemic less effective. “If the virus is allowed to spread like wildfire in southern countries, it will mutate again and again“with”new, more transmissible, more deadly variants that will potentially threaten the effectiveness of vaccines“, detailed Antonio Gutteres on February 17.”This can greatly prolong the pandemic, allowing the virus to return to ravage the North“, he said.
In short, we live “in a global village“and as long as the vaccine does not contain the pandemic everywhere,”no one will be safe anywhere“, warned the director of the WHO.
For vaccine solidarity
What solution is left then? For the UN, the outcome of this covid crisis requires a coordinated global effort. “The world urgently needs a global immunization plan to bring together all those who have the power, scientific expertise, and the requisite production and financial capacities“, underlined the Secretary General of the UN, Antonio Guterres.
A message that seems to have been heard by the European Union and the United States, which promised on February 19 at the G7 summit a respective contribution of one billion euros and four billion dollars to the Covax system.
The day before, Emmanuel Macron pleaded in the Financial Times so that rich countries, including France, send 3 to 5% of their available doses to African countries.
However, even if the objectives of Covax were met, the road to vaccination remains long. 20% of the population would certainly be vaccinated, but vaccination coverage of at least 60% is necessary to achieve collective immunity, recalls for its part theAfrican Union (UA).