WHO urges changes to global vaccine market amid persistent inequities

GENEVA: Rich and poor countries continue to have highly unequal access to jabs against Covid-19 as well as other diseases, the World Health Organization warned, as it called for changes to the global vaccine market.

For example, the vaccine against the human papilloma virus (HPV), which can cause cervical cancer, has only been introduced in 41% of lowincome countries, compared to 83% of high-income countries, according to a WHO report published on Wednesday.

Affordability can also be an obstacle, as sometimes middle-income countries actually pay more than wealthier ones due to price differences.

“The right to health includes the right to vaccines,” said WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. However, the report shows that free market policies are depriving some of the world’s poorest and most vulnerable people of this right.

Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, a total of about 16 billion vaccine doses worth $141 billion were delivered in 2021, almost three times the market volume of pre-Covid 2019.