Rich states buy up vaccines
RICH countries have secured enough coronavirus vaccines to protect their populations nearly three times over by the end of 2021, Amnesty International and other groups said yesterday, possibly depriving billions of people in poorer areas.
Britain approved Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine this month, raising hopes that the tide could soon turn against a virus that has killed nearly 1.5 million globally, hammered the world economy and upended normal life.
Amnesty and other organisations including Frontline Aids, Global Justice Now and Oxfam, urged governments and the pharmaceutical industry to take action to ensure intellectual property of vaccines is shared widely.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has also called on governments repeatedly this year to make a vaccine protecting against Covid-19 a “public good”.
The WHO has backed a global vaccine programme scheme known as Covax, which seeks to ensure equitable distribution of vaccines and 189 countries have joined. But some countries such as the US have not signed up, having secured bilateral deals.
Covax hopes to deliver 2 billion doses by the end of 2021 but that would still only represent about 20% of the populations of countries that are part of the mechanism.
“Nearly 70 poor countries will only be able to vaccinate one in 10 people against Covid-19 next year unless urgent action is taken,” Amnesty International said,.
“Updated data shows that rich nations representing just 14% of the world’s population have bought up 53% of all the most promising vaccines so far,” it said.
Amnesty said Canada was the country that had bought the most shots when considering the size of its population, with enough doses to vaccinate every Canadian five times.
The organisation urged support for a proposal made by South Africa and India to the World Trade Organization Council to waive intellectual property rights for Covid-19 vaccines, tests and treatments.
Meanwhile, economic relief and a vaccine drew nearer to reality yesterday to counter a coronavirus pandemic that has ravaged the US economy and killed 286 487 people with year-end holiday gatherings expected to fuel another surge in infections.
The US House of Representatives was set to vote yesterday on a oneweek stopgap funding bill that will buy more time to reach a deal on Covid-19 relief, with separate aid packages of more than $900 billion (about R13.5 trillion) on the table.
Help is urgently needed as the US reported an average of 2 259 deaths and 205 661 new cases each day over the past week.
Democratic US Senator Joe Manchin said he expected Democrats and Republicans to work out most of the details yesterday.
“You’re going to see 90% of the bill today,” Manchin told CNN.
Part of the congressional debate involves aid to state and local governments. In addition to millions of job losses in the private sector, state and local governments have laid off nearly 700 000 workers this year, according to US government data, equal to 8.4% of the workforce.
Schools alone are facing a shortfall of up to $246bn, or 18% of projected spending, over the next two years, says Michael Griffith, a senior researcher at the Learning Policy Institute.
In the former manufacturing hub of Schenectady, New York, the city government raised property taxes and trash-collection fees while the school board laid off 423 teachers, janitors and other workers, even with only 16% of grade-schoolers found to be proficient in math last year.
“These kids are struggling. They were struggling before Covid, and everybody looks past them,” social worker Lindsey Esposito said.
Vaccinations could start as soon as this weekend, possibly taking pressure off a health-care system buckling under a record 104 200 hospitalisations.
Pfizer Inc cleared another hurdle on Tuesday when the US Food and Drug Administration released documents that raised no new red flags over the safety or efficacy of its vaccine.