Why do Western countries not mention human rights in the distribution of the COVID-19 vaccine?

Photo: VCG

World Health Organization (WHO) Director General Tedros Adhanom Gebreyes has once again criticized the unfair distribution of the COVID-19 vaccine. Many western developed countries are worried that some residents will not be vaccinated, and progress is not as expected, but more are worried about how to get vaccinated.

But no matter how cruel the reality of this injustice, many proclaiming human rights and supremacy of human rights remain unheard of and leave countries to wait for vaccines.

“Vaccine distribution is a magic mirror that shows which countries are really interested in human rights,” experts said.

How long will the “vaccine race” last in 2021? When will countries that cannot cope with the pandemic receive fair assistance?

Late 2022

Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country, has not purchased the COVID-19 vaccine. Like many African countries, Nigeria, with a population of over 200 million, is suffering from a second wave of pandemics. According to Bloomberg, Nigerian authorities plan to implement a clear vaccine purchase plan by the end of January, given price and logistics considerations.

In fact, Nigeria is desperate for vaccines. More than 2,600 healthcare workers have been infected and many of the front-line epidemic response staff are exhausted. According to Reuters, it requested the African Union 100,000 COVID-19 vaccines and allocated $ 26 million last week to produce the licensed vaccine.

Nigeria had the opportunity to receive 100,000 doses of Pfizer vaccine this month through COVAX, a WHO-led program for global equitable access to the COVID-19 vaccine. The Nigerian Ministry of Health has even announced that the President, Vice President, and Federal Secretary-General will receive live vaccines on television.

It also announced a distribution plan showing that the whole country was waiting for the vaccine. But then it was suddenly announced that the vaccine would not arrive at the end of January.

The sudden change is reminiscent of a recent announcement by the US Department of Health and Human Services that there is no stockpile of vaccines to distribute, and many Nigerians are wondering: Vaccine plans should not be wrong. Are we fooled by the United States?

“Look at the turmoil in their country [in] now. What’s more, with all the emphasis on “America First,” Americans cannot even vaccinate themselves. How can they give us that? “Nigeria police officer Mita said.

In South Africa, the epidemic has peaked, despite being controlled in the summer.

Mbuyiseni Ndlozi, a member of the South African Parliament, suggested on social media that he should buy only one vaccine and copy and duplicate it. No patent or commercial benefit is more valuable than saving a life.

Comments caused ridicule online while wandering around public opinion. Netizens commented, “How do you replicate and make it? I don’t even know how to prescribe a vaccine.”

As far as vaccine availability in South Africa is concerned, the Osford-AstraZeneca vaccine manufactured in India has not yet been implemented and the countries that ordered the Pfizer vaccine are still lining up around the world.

Earlier this year, some South African media revealed that South Africa could produce 300 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine for Johnson & Johnson and questioned whether it would be distributed to South Africa.

The public has expressed dissatisfaction with the government’s strategy to obtain the vaccine, focusing on “strategy ambiguity and lack of information about where, when and how much the vaccine will cost”. There are many.

Vaccination is difficult for large African countries, and even more difficult for smaller ones. But the good news is that Seychelles has begun to use a Chinese vaccine donated by the United Arab Emirates. Egypt is on the verge of vaccination with a large amount of Chinese vaccine, and Guinea has given 25 Russian vaccines.

Some Asian countries face similar difficulties.

“Some countries, especially developed countries, have already begun vaccination of front-line workers against COVID-19, but developing countries like Pakistan are still struggling to get safe and effective vaccines. We are doing it, “Daily Pakistan reported on January 20. Pakistan approved China’s Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use on January 18.

The Pakistani newspaper Dawn reported that the country is getting the AstraZeneca vaccine through both COVAX and private channels.

“Personally, I don’t think the vaccine will hit the market in the coming months,” said a Pakistani Food and Drug Administration official who asked not to name it. In reality, the vaccine is not globally available and will probably last until the end of the second quarter of this year, he said.

High-income countries purchase large tranches of current and future vaccine doses directly from vaccine suppliers. Middle-income countries are also negotiating their own supplies. As a result, COVAX vaccines are relatively low, the US scientific journal Nature reported in January. It said that some people in low-income countries may have to wait until at least 2022 to get the vaccine.

In addition, pharmaceutical companies struggled to keep up with demand, which required delaying vaccine delivery. According to a newspaper in the Republic of Nepal, Nepal is likely to be vaccinated with the COVAX vaccine within four months at the earliest.

Vaccine supply is just one challenge for many poor countries.

Vaccines like Pfizer require very low temperatures to store, and many countries with poor infrastructure do not know how to meet that requirement.

As a result, some media said that Western countries are not only rushing to store vaccines, but are ignoring the needs of underdeveloped areas in terms of vaccine logistics.

Vaccine nationalism

The EU wants to share the vaccine surplus. EU Health Commissioner Stella Kyriakides said she would like to establish a mechanism that would allow the EU to share surplus COVID-19 vaccines before COVAX is fully functional. report.

She said COVAX is already in operation but has been struggling to get the vaccine so far.

Europe, which led the fight against vaccine nationalism last year, is now being criticized around the world for being a “poster child of vaccine nationalism” along with the United States. The EU and its member states are shining the spotlight on Germany.

The German magazine Der Spiegel said the German government had ordered 30 million doses of vaccine separately from the German manufacturer BioNtech outside the EU’s joint mechanism, causing anger in neighboring countries. Finally, the European Commission negotiated with Germany and demanded that 30 million doses be administered only after the EU’s joint order was completed.

The EU, with a population of 450 million, has ordered about 2.3 billion doses of vaccine from six manufacturers. Taking twice per person has a considerable surplus.

But for now, it is unlikely that the EU will share some of its vaccine with poor countries. The EU may share vaccines with other countries around the third quarter of 2021, when EU countries have basically completed vaccination of their residents.

Many European experts have accused the United States of being irresponsible for adopting the “America First” policy because both EU-approved Pfizer and Moderna vaccines are manufactured by American companies. I will. However, few voices reflect the panic purchase and stockpile of European vaccines.

In addition, European public opinion generally believes that vaccines developed in Europe and the United States, such as Pfizer and Moderna, are not suitable for poor countries due to the high cost of storage and transportation.

In fact, there are also serious inequality on the European continent. The Associated Press said, “Last month, when thousands of people across the European Union began rolling their sleeves to get the coronavirus vaccine, they felt that a corner of the continent was left behind, isolated and abandoned: Balkan. Peninsula “.

Most of the Western Balkans rely on COVAX to obtain vaccines. They couldn’t get the vaccine, so they had to help themselves and each other. Serbia initially obtained small doses of Pfizer and Russian vaccines, but not enough for mass vaccination. When China’s first million doses of vaccine arrived in Belgrade on January 16, President Alexander Vucci went to the airport to welcome him.

Canada is more typical when it comes to the “responsibility” of developed countries. Not long ago, Canada rejected WHO’s call for vaccine donations. Canada has ordered 414 million vaccines, more than five times the amount needed by the entire population.

“Canadas are divided into wanting to help the world and helping themselves. Ottawa faces pressure to help poor countries access the COVID-19 vaccine, but demands citizens. Being vaccinated as soon as possible. ”David Hornsby, a professor of international affairs at the University of Carlton, said the pandemic has evolved over the decades in the country. He said he was shedding light on the inward-looking trends that had been made.

Increasing global demand for Chinese and Russian vaccines

“The gap in vaccine distribution between developed and developing countries is very large, and some countries start and accelerate vaccination,” said ChenXi, an associate professor of global health policy and economics at Yale University. So it’s becoming more and more obvious. ” “With the exception of COVAX, no proposal for cooperation between the governments of developed and developing countries has been submitted,” the Times said. Therefore, the WHO Director General emphasized that this was a “catastrophic moral failure.” did. “

In an interview with Global Times, Wang Yi Wei, director of the Institute for International Affairs, Renmin University of China, said, “Vaccine distribution is a magic mirror, which countries really care about human rights, and which countries talk about human rights. It shows if there is any. ” “The epidemic is a global humanitarian disaster. The practices of Western nations that have always promoted populism and human rights dominance violate their principles. They only obtain and stock anti-epidemic material. But even in domestic vaccination, the rich come first. “

A Chinese scholar who had been in Britain for a long time under the exchange program told the Global Times that the hypocrisy of Western nations since the outbreak left a deep impression on her. “It goes without saying that they ignore and deny people in their own country and take care of people in other countries.”

Chen suggests that efforts should be made in the following areas to solve the vaccine dilemma: First, developed countries, especially those with vaccine reservations far beyond the population, need to provide bilateral and multilateral vaccine assistance to developing countries. Second, we need a variety of vaccine development options, especially vaccines that are suitable for storage and transport conditions in developing countries. Third, developing countries can negotiate with major pharmaceutical companies to obtain non-patent applications and mass-produce them in their own countries. India has great potential in this regard.

Global Times learned from anonymous sources that India is trying to show its image as a major country and its advantage in the healthcare supply chain through vaccine exports. However, some analysts believe that it may be difficult to meet demand as India has to produce vaccines for its large population and exports.

The Financial Times reported on January 19 that Chinese and Russian vaccines are in high demand as a global dose competition. Chinese and Russian manufacturers have found that foreign buyers are increasingly interested in vaccines, but emphasize that people still have some concerns about Chinese and Russian vaccines. I will.

An article by Germany’s Tageszeitungjunge Welt said that for more and more countries, the success of the fight against epidemics no longer depends on Western leadership, but on cooperation with China. This includes countries in Asia, Africa and South America, as well as countries such as Serbia in Europe.