Lots of talk but little action on vaccines
With pandemic inequities deepening, the leaders of rich nations have called the divide in vaccine access unacceptable, shameful, even immoral, but have offered few new commitments that would close the gap in an immediate way.
Instead, at a virtual summit yesterday during which some statements were pre-recorded, leaders took turns offering sometimes conflicting ideas for expanding vaccine access, and countries announced a slow drip of largely unilateral and not entirely new moves.
Italy and Germany said they would donate doses to lowerincome countries, adding to previous promises by France, New Zealand, the United States and a handful of other countries. The European Union said it would expand its vaccine diplomacy, helping Africa build new manufacturing hubs.
EU leaders also promoted their role in encouraging vaccine makers to increase supply to lower-income countries at reduced prices.
Johnson & Johnson yesterday announced 200 million doses for Covax, a struggling World Health Organisation (WHO)-backed initiative to distribute vaccines to poorer countries. Pfizer, meanwhile, pledged 2 billion doses over the next 18 months, though a spokesman said the portion for this year was not a new allocation.
The summit, one of the most notable global gatherings to date to address the pandemic, comes at a time when the fortunes of rich countries are diverging dramatically from those of the rest of the world.
While the US, Europe and a handful of other developed nations have curbed the virus with well-funded vaccine campaigns, some poorer countries without an adequate supply of doses are being ravaged like never before.
This has led to an increasingly pitched debate about how to contend with the inequities, which stem from the initial push by wealthy countries to cut deals directly with vaccine makers, gaining overwhelming control of the global supply.
Of the roughly 1.5 billion coronavirus vaccine doses administered worldwide, only 0.3
per cent of the inoculations have taken place in low-income countries.
The meeting, co-hosted by Italy and the European Union, showed that there are certain points of agreement on how to help poorer nations catch up, including sharing surplus doses when available, and funding for improved vaccine manufacturing worldwide.
But countries remain at odds over other points.
The Biden Administration earlier this month said it supported waiving intellectual property protections for coronavirus vaccines – a move that would allow developing countries to potentially produce generic versions. But leaders in Europe, where some of the world’s biggest pharmaceutical companies are based, say this would not be a quick fix and could stifle innovation.
Numerous leaders instead emphasised the need to ensure the free flow of vaccine materials across borders – a jab at the US, which public health experts and some foreign governments have accused of prioritising domestic orders and hindering the global supply chain.
Covax, which has been struggling with a funding shortage, was dealt a further blow when India – counted on to be the foremost manufacturer and exporter of Covax doses – decided to limit exports as it tries to contain an enormous domestic outbreak.
The summit, overall, provided ‘‘too little, without the needed urgency of action’’, said Krishna Udayakumar, founding director of the Duke Global Health Innovation Centre. ‘‘Commitments should be brought forward to enable sharing and delivery of doses in days to weeks, not months to years.’’
Jenny Ottenhoff, senior policy director at the Washington-based ONE Campaign, which advocates for the end of preventable disease and extreme poverty, said the summit had led to some ‘‘important new commitments’’ but was just a start – and after more than a year into this pandemic, ‘‘a good start is not enough’’.
‘‘We have the tools to end the pandemic in months rather than years, but there is still a massive gap between commitments made and what is really needed to get these tools everywhere,’’ Ottenhoff said.
‘‘We have the tools to end the pandemic in months rather than years.’’ Jenny Ottenhoff, ONE Campaign