As rich nations ramp up their Covid vaccination programs, many low-income and developing countries have yet to administer a single jab.
Countries such as the United States and the United Kingdom are likely to inoculate 75 percent of their citizens before more than one or two percent of the entire continent of Africa.
Some rich countries have acquired access to enough doses to vaccinate their populations nearly three times over, reports suggest. A small group of wealthy nations – comprising just 16 percent of the world’s population – have purchased 60 percent of the global vaccine supply, according to a study by Duke University’s Global Health Institute.
Although WHO President Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has urged wealthier governments to “prioritize equity,” and increase investment in its global initiative (ACT-Accelerator) to spur the development and distribution of vaccines, the profitability of the research and development effort undertaken by the multinational pharmaceutical corporations has always come first.
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