Posted: 20 Feb, 2021

Poor Countries Will Lose The Race Against COVID if The Rich Continue to Block Vaccine Plans

Low income and poor developing countries have fallen behind the race to vaccinate as wealthy countries have first access. Yet, to end coronavirus it is vital that all countries worldwide have access to vaccinations and are protected against the deadly virus.

 World Health Organisation (WHO) has warned, the world could face “catastrophic moral failure" because of unequal Covid vaccine policies.Canada especially came under fire as it was claimed that they ordered enough vaccines to protect each Canadian five times over while people suffered to get any access in poorer countries. Karina Gould, Canada's minister of international development, denied allegations the country was hoarding vaccines, saying any discussion of excess orders was "hypothetical" as the doses had not been delivered.

COVAX to the Rescue

All hope is not lost, COVAX, a partnership between the World Health Organization (WHO) and two international groups – the Gavi vaccine alliance and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) –  aims to send vaccines to developing countries.

 They are actively working to end discrimination and to reduce vaccine disparity between high- and low-income countries. 

92 poor and low-income countries can’t afford to purchase vaccines on their own. Places such as Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Uganda and Zimbabwe are struggling with a high number of cases yet no vaccines. However, many other countries that are paying for doses themselves, such as South Africa, had also pinned their hopes on the facility.

We at Save and Orphan stand with equitable access to vaccines worldwide. We can only work towards unity and worldwide immunity if everyone has fair access to the vaccines. We believe in treating everyone justly and helping those who need it the most.

"Stand out firmly for justice, as witnesses to Allah, even if it be against yourselves, your parents and your relatives, or whether it is against the rich or the poor.”

Qur'an 4:135

What is Covax doing? 

COVAX hopes to deliver more than two billion doses to people in 190 countries in less than a year and all 92 countries that are struggling to pay for the vaccine will have their vaccines paid for by a fund sponsored by donors.

The UK government has provided $734m (£548m) and the US pledged $4bn (£2.93bn) in December.

The lower-income countries most likely to receive the first vaccines include Afghanistan, Haiti, DR Congo, Ethiopia and Somalia.


What are their challenges?

Even if COVAX’S target is met, it would still fall short of the level of immunity that experts say is needed to end the pandemic.

In fact, COVAX had ambitious goals to deliver vaccines to poorer countries at the same time as the richer nations also received their doses but the wealthy nations secured bilateral deals with vaccine manufacturers and progressed with vaccine rollouts. This caused COVAX to struggle to obtain enough doses to begin shipping.

All hope is not lost as Ghana was the first developing country to receive the Vaccine and COVAX aims to continue the rollout. At Save an Orphan, we continue to work to support poor countries suffering from a lack of health and care and ensure their communities are supported during COVID-19.

To know more about how you can help, 

Here are some articles you may like