Vaccine apartheid

A week ago, I blogged about the insanity of state governments here in the US falling over each other with incentives so that residents in their states will get themselves the Covid vaccine.  Incentives to get a free vaccine that could be the difference between life and death.  How insane is it to offer a million dollar raffle in order to lure the hesitant crowd to the needle!

Many people in many countries around the world would gladly pay to get the vaccine into their deltoids. (Why always into the arm muscle?  Click here to know why.)  Yet, here, we have to offer people pizza, beer, and even million dollar lotteries!

Poor people in poor countries are screwed because they might not get the vaccines until 2023.  Yes, you read that correctly.  2023.  Most covid vaccines going to high- and middle-income countries.

According to Nature, as of mid-March, those countries had secured more than six billion out of 8.6 billion doses. Less than a week later, the Times reported that “86 percent of shots” that went into arms across the globe were “administered in high- and upper-middle-income countries.”

Why should we care? "simple humanity and simple biology."

If left unchecked, the loss of human life for families and societies worldwide will be staggering. Viruses are international travellers, and over time they mutate. Wherever vaccine coverage is patchy, there is selective pressure for the virus to evolve resistance.

If "vaccine apartheid" makes you feel squishy because you are being compelled to think about the awful apartheid regime, then a more palatable phrase "a two track pandemic" might provide you the incentive to think about how "richer countries having access and poorer ones being left behind."

A recent proposal from IMF staff puts forward a plan with clear targets, pragmatic actions, and at a feasible cost. It builds on and supports the ongoing work of WHO, its partners in the Access to COVID-19 Tools (ACT) Accelerator initiative and its global vaccine access programme COVAX, as well as the work of the World Bank Group, the WTO and many others. 

At an estimated $50 billion, it will bring the pandemic to an end faster in the developing world, reduce infections and loss of lives, accelerate the economic recovery, and generate some $9 trillion in additional global output by 2025.  It is a win for all — while around 60 percent of the gains will go to emerging markets and developing economies, the remaining 40 percent will benefit the developed world. And this is without taking into account the inestimable benefits on people’s health and lives.

Hmmm ... $50 billion.  A big number, right?  Let's compare that number against the US annual spending for its military.  President Biden has proposed spending $715 billion on national defense.  $50 billion is practically a rounding off error. 

It is not that we do not have the money.  We clearly lack the will to do the right thing--vaccinate the world.