To End the Pandemic, We Must Champion Vaccine Equality

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By Deepa Kadidahl

To End the Pandemic, We Must Champion Vaccine Equality

With the lifting of the mask mandate at Penn State, it feels for us as though COVID is over. Unsurprisingly, this is far from true. Today, COVID is particularly plaguing low-income countries due to unequal distribution of vaccines. Peru, for example, had only vaccinated 30% of its population by September of last year. At one point, they also suffered from the highest COVID death rate in the world, with the virus having killed 200,000 of its 32 millions citizens (Al Jazeera). Countries in Africa are also victims of vaccine inequality. By the end of last year, only 8% of the continent’s entire population had been vaccinated (Amnesty International). Even when vaccines were shipped from the West to African countries, there were many instances of the vaccines being close to their expiration date (Amnesty International). These countries lacked the infrastructure to distribute the vaccines in time, leading to their disposal before being administered to the population. Vaccine inequity poses a significant threat to global health as well given that the longer these countries remain unvaccinated, the more variants will appear. The vaccine disparity between rich and poor countries that we see today is due to the greed of pharmaceutical corporations and the selfish geopolitical ambitions of Western nations.


Pharmaceutical companies such as Moderna and Pfizer produced the vaccine in large part thanks to research funding from tax dollars. The public invested in the vaccine’s creation, while the pharmaceutical industry reaped the record breaking profits. These vaccines were then shipped primarily to wealthy countries that can pay the corporations while poorer countries continue to see a high degree of COVID cases and deaths. Low-income countries would be able to easily manufacture their own vaccines if not for patent protections. For instance, Moderna has refused to share their intellectual property rights, so that other countries can produce the vaccine. This action has been supported by the UK and Germany who have vocally denounced patent waivers, displaying a complete disregard for human life.


Powerful Western nations have used the lack of access to vaccines to advance their geopolitical goals. The US excluded Myanmar and Cambodia when it committed to sharing vaccine doses with Asian countries because their governments have ties to China. Other countries at odds with the US that did not receive American vaccines include Cuba and Venezuela (The Nation). Denying innocent civilians the right to health cannot be excused no matter the actions of their government.

   

Vaccine inequity is currently one of the world’s worst human rights travesties. It is sobering to learn about and we will never even know how devastating it is to experience. The US could be using its significant influence to push EU countries to waive patents, but the Biden administration has taken little meaningful action. All we can do is demand that our country do better. If vaccine inequity persists, then millions of the world’s most vulnerable will continue to perish and the COVID crisis may never end.   


Sources:

https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/vaccine-covax-internationalism/

https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2021/9/30/vaccine-apartheid-the-global-south-fights-back

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