Coronavirus Vaccine Procurement Dim For Poor Nations
Procurement of coronavirus vaccine seems dim for 9 of 10 people in 70 low-income countries and Pakistan is one of them
The novel coronavirus cases are surging in Pakistan and low-income countries and procurement of its recently invented vaccine in the near future seems highly unlikely.
Nine out of 10 people in 70 low-income countries are unlikely to be vaccinated against covid-19 next year and Pakistan is one of them. The majority of the vaccines have been bought by the west, according to campaigners.
People’s Vaccine Alliance has warned that the deals done by the governments of developed countries will leave the poor at the mercy of the rampaging virus. Te rich countries with only 14% of the world’s population have secured 53% of total-produced-so-far coronavirus vaccines.
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Charitable organization Oxfam’s Health Policy Manager Anna Marriott said, “No one should be blocked from getting a life-saving vaccine because of the country they live in or the amount of money in their pocket.”
Pfizer and BioNTech vaccines approved in the UK last week have been bought by rich countries with 96% of the doses bought by the west.
Moderna vaccine, which also claims to have 95% efficacy, is also going exclusively to rich countries. The prices of both vaccines are high and access for low-income countries like Pakistan will be next to impossible.
Pakistan is experiencing a steady rise in positive cases during the second wave of coronavirus.
The current situation of procurement of the vaccine in the near future seems very dim.
However, a Chinese vaccine is undergoing trials at three hospitals in the country and Islamabad has allocated millions of rupees to secure doses.
In November, Islamabad allocated over $150 million (€123 million) to book vaccine doses from various developers, and China is at the top of the list.
“Rich countries have enough doses to vaccinate everyone nearly three times, whilst poor countries don’t even have enough to reach health workers and people at risk,” said Dr. Mohga Kamal Yanni, from the People’s Vaccine Alliance.
India which also falls in the category of low-income countries is in process of developing its own vaccine that is affordable.
The rates of the Indian vaccine could come down to somewhere between INR 250-300 per shot.
The vaccine can be stored at two to eight degrees Celsius which makes it easily distributable across the country which has the world’s second-highest number of infections at 9.6 million.
