When it comes to vaccines and Coronavirus, one cannot fail to mention "Vaccinal apartheid". The expression, reported by Gino Strada, is by the Indian economist Jayati Gosh, and is a very clear picture of the situation that is taking place globally in the largest vaccination campaign ever in the world. The fight against the Coronavirus is done above all with the vaccines, at least for now. However, there are some conditions necessary to ensure its effectiveness. Indeed, it is certainly essential that vaccinations run - as far as possible - faster than the virus. But it is equally essential that the approach to the fight against the pandemic is the same in all countries, whether poor or rich. Because, in a globalized world, this is the only way to protect everyone's health.
The alarm about this discrimination between poor and rich countries is raised by Gino Strada. The founder of Emergency writes, in an article that appeared in the weekly l'Espresso, that rich countries, represented by 14 per cent of the population, have secured 53 per cent of the vaccine doses.
Coronavirus has widened the gap between rich and poor countries
We know that access to medicines by poor countries is a problem that is as dramatic as it is complex. According to what the magazine reports One world, almost half of the poorest countries do not have access to essential medicines. The patent policy of pharmaceutical companies and underdeveloped health systems are the main causes. The outbreak of the pandemic and the need to vaccinate populations around the world have widened this gap between rich and poor.
“Canada and Pakistan - reports Gino Strada sull'Espresso - had the same number of Covid-19 patients, about 420. While Canada has secured enough doses to vaccinate all of its citizens nearly five times, in Pakistan probably only one in ten people will be immunized this year ”. Expanding these numbers globally, it is known that 108 million people had been vaccinated around the world at the beginning of February. " Among the poorest countries - explains the founder of Emergency - only Guinea has managed to start vaccinations for 55 inhabitants. Just 55: I haven't forgotten a single zero".
Global approach to vaccine development but not to vaccination around the world
The mobilization of the international scientific community, the enormous economic investments, skills and technology have been a global approach to the pandemic. And this has contributed a lot to the development of vaccines in a very short time. But, once the result was achieved, the global approach to the pandemic stopped. "Those who can pay get the doses they need while many poor countries are not even able to enter into bargaining. Most of them will receive vaccines through Covax, a redistribution initiative led byWorld Health Organization, with times and quantities totally inadequate to achieve significant immunity in a reasonable period ".
According to Gino Strada, only a fair distribution of vaccines can guarantee respect for human rights but also a long look at this pandemic. Because "if vaccinations do not proceed quickly and widely everywhere, we risk that somewhere in the world other mutations of the virus develop which could make available vaccines ineffective".
Increase production and lower prices to help developing countries
This is the health picture. No less alarming is the economic one. According to Gino Strada “The effects of a huge economic crisis would also add to the loss of so many human lives. According to a study commissioned by the Research Foundation of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), the global economy risks losing up to $ 9,2 trillion if governments fail to ensure access to Covid-19 vaccines for developing countries".
What to do? “For the vaccine to be available to the greatest number of people - concludes Strada - it is essential increase production and lower prices. A result that could be achieved if the rules protecting intellectual property were - at least temporarily - suspended… Or if the pharmaceuticals granted licenses to third-party companies ”. The objective to be pursued is "equal access to vaccines". Coalitions of activists and international organizations have been working on it for some time, Emergency itself in the front row.
