Only one out of 10 people in poor countries may be able to vaccinate against the COVID-19 as wealthier nations have bought up most of the stock, a group of campaigning organisations under the aegis of People’s Vaccine Alliance said.
The People’s Vaccine alliance includes organisations like The Amnesty International, Frontline AIDS, Global Justice Now and Oxfam and its prediction was based on data collected by science information and analytics company, Airfinity which is used to analyse the deals done between countries and the eight leading vaccine candidates.
It said rich countries with 14 percent of the world’s population have bought 53 percent of the most promising vaccines.
This, according to the People’s Vaccine Alliance, means that they have secured enough to vaccinate each citizen at least twice while citizens in low-income countries may not be able to get vaccinated even once.
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It said Canada tops the list with enough vaccine to vaccinate each citizen at least five times.
The People’s Vaccine Alliance said about 96 percent of Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, which was approved in the US about a week ago, will go to rich countries.
It added that the Moderna vaccine which claims to have 95 percent efficacy will also go to the wealthier nations. Both vaccines are significantly high-priced and have to be stored at really low temperatures which would be a problem for a lot of countries.
Oxford University/AstraZeneca vaccine-which claims 70 percent efficacy, can be stored at normal fridge temperatures and had been priced deliberately low for global access– one company cannot alone supply the whole world.
“The People’s Vaccine Alliance is calling on all pharmaceutical corporations working on COVID-19 vaccines to openly share their technology and intellectual property through the World Health Organization COVID-19 Technology Access Pool, so that billions more doses can be manufactured and safe and effective vaccines can be available to all who need them,” the Oxfam International press release said.
The alliance also calls on governments to do everything in it’s power to make sure that everyone has access to the vaccine- to make it a “people’s vaccine” and not a “profit vaccine”.
Meanwhile, the Senate President, Ahmad Lawan had last week questioned the preparedness of the Federal Ministry of Health to effectively acquire, store and vaccinate Nigerians against COVID-19.
READ ASLO: Nigerians To Receive COVID-19 Vaccine By End Of January – FG
He was reacting to the Minister of Health, Dr Osagie Ehanire and the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed’s claim that the federal government had earmarked N400 billion for the acquisition of the COVID-19 vaccines.
He said: “I have not been convinced with your presentation that we are ready to bring in the vaccines. You have to do much more to convince me that we are ready. This is a matter of life and death. I am not only a doubting Thomas, but I am also doubting Ahmad,”
Lawan said when the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 visited to brief the leadership of the Senate on the preparation by the federal government to acquire COVID-19 vaccines for use in the country.
© ControlTV 2020.
