Paris: Rich countries have hoarded enough coronavirus vaccines to protect their populations nearly three times over by the end of 2021, Amnesty International and other groups said, possibly depriving billions of people in poorer areas.
“Nearly 70 poor countries will only be able to vaccinate one in ten people against COVID-19 next year unless urgent action is taken by governments and the pharmaceutical industry to make sure enough doses are produced,” Amnesty warned.
According to Amnesty, Canada tops the chart with enough vaccines to vaccinate each Canadian five times.
“Updated data shows that rich nations representing just 14 per cent of the world’s population have bought up 53 per cent of all the most promising vaccines so far,” it said.
The Pfizer /BioNTech vaccine has received approval in the UK and vaccinations have already begun. It is likely to receive approval from other countries. including the US. within days.
Two further potential vaccines, from Moderna and Oxford in partnership with AstraZeneca are expected to submit or are awaiting regulatory approval. The Russian vaccine, Sputnik, has announced positive trial results and four other candidates are in phase 3 clinical trials.
So far, all of Moderna’s doses and 96 percent of Pfizer/BioNTech have been acquired by rich countries.
In welcome contrast, Oxford/AstraZeneca has pledged to provide 64 percent of their doses to people in developing nations. Yet despite their actions to scale up supply they can still only reach 18 percent of the world’s population next year at most.
