In just one year, the world has been able to vaccinate 43% of its population, but it has done so very unevenly. Some European countries exceed 80% of their target population vaccinatedWhile in Africa, many countries do not reach 5% of inoculated inhabitants.
“The governments we have given a monopoly of exploitation to a few companies, and they are the ones that decide how many are manufactured, where they are manufactured, at what price and to whom they are sold, “criticizes Fernando Lamata, honorary president of the Association for Fair Access to Medicine.
Precisely a year ago now, South Africa, origin of the omicron variant, applied to release patents for COVID vaccines. The United States supported the measure, but the European Union, an exporter of vaccines, was reluctant, and the issue remains stuck in the World Trade Organization.
In this sense, Francisco Javier Fernández, Director of Communication of Farmaindustria, affirms that “patents are not a problem in the fight against the coronavirus “, and that” more than 300 agreements have already been made, which is allowing there to be more than 80 plants in 70 countries. “
At least one thing all the experts agree on: new variants arise where fewer people have been vaccinated. And the COVAX program, created to donate vaccines to less developed countries, has proven insufficient.
“What would be much more sensible, much more reasonable, would be for a public sector structure to discuss the prices of vaccines dog-face with producers, an affordable price for all countries“, defends Amós García Rojas, president of the Spanish Association of Vaccination.
Bet on an equitable distribution
The WHO intends to alleviate this unfair distribution by promoting a future pandemic treaty. “The first thing is distribute available vaccines equitably around the world“, highlights Fernando Lamata, while Francisco Javier Fernández emphasizes that” what we need is a great international political agreement. “
The 12,000 million doses produced so far would have allowed 80% of the world’s population to be vaccinated, but G20 countries have collected precisely eight out of ten vaccines.
Mario Twitchell is an accomplished author and journalist, known for his insightful and thought-provoking writing on a wide range of topics including general and opinion. He currently works as a writer at 247 news agency, where he has established himself as a respected voice in the industry.
