Poor face missing out on coronavirus vaccine as rich countries hoard

Most of the world’s poor won’t get virus vaccine as rich countries keep enough doses to immunise populations three times over.

A health worker prepares a dose of a COVID-19 vaccine in Lima, Peru, on Thursday. Picture: AFP

Most of the world’s poor will go without a coronavirus vaccine because rich countries are hoarding enough doses to immunise their populations three times over, an international watchdog has said.

In nearly 70 of the poorest ­nations, only one in 10 people can hope to get a vaccine by the end of next year, the People’s Vaccine Alliance, a coalition campaign for universal access to the jabs, claims.

In the developed world, nations representing 14 per cent of the world’s population have already bought up more than half of the most promising vaccines.

Canada, for example, has bought enough vaccines to immunise its population five times over should all of them be approved and manufactured.

“The hoarding of vaccines ­actively undermines global efforts to ensure that everyone, everywhere can be protected from COVID-19,” Steve Cockburn, head of economic and social justice at Amnesty International, said. “By buying up the vast majority of the world’s vaccine supply, rich countries are in breach of their human rights obligations.”

AstraZeneca, the company manufacturing the Oxford vaccine, has tried to even up distribution by promising that almost two-thirds of the vaccines it produces will go to the developing world, where it will be sold not-for-profit. That vaccine is cheaper than the others developed elsewhere and can be stored at fridge temperatures, making it easier to distribute across the globe.

But it is not yet enough to even up the disparity. Britain began vaccinating with the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, the first to be approved, on Tuesday, and Canada is expected to start next week after it authorised the same vaccine on Wednesday.

The richest countries have bought 96 per cent of the doses of that vaccine, which requires storage in ultra-cold freezers. Every one of Moderna’s doses, the next vaccine expected to be licensed, has been bought by developed countries.

“No one should be blocked from getting a lifesaving vaccine because of the country they live in or the amount of money in their pocket,” said Anna Marriott, health policy manager for Oxfam, one of the organisations in the alliance.

“Unless something changes dramatically, billions of people around the world will not receive a safe and effective vaccine for COVID-19 for years to come.”

At least 172 countries have joined, or are considering participating in, Covax, an initiative by the World Health Organisation that aims to provide access to ­effective vaccines. But only 250 million doses have been confirmed as bought under the scheme. The vaccine alliance has called on drug companies to share their technology.

Donald Trump signed an executive order on Tuesday demanding that US drug companies prioritise domestic sales before they sell abroad. The move came after it emerged that the White House had turned down Pfizer’s offer for an additional 100 million doses, which have now been sold to foreign countries.

The Times