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Almost two-thirds of people in the UK say they don’t want rich countries to have priority access to Covid-19 vaccinations over poorer countries, amid warnings that a huge part of the world does not have yet administered a single dose of the life-saving vaccine.
Two-thirds of those polled also said the UK government should pressure pharmaceutical companies to share their Covid vaccine formula to allow for faster deployment of doses.
The poll, commissioned by Christian Aid, comes as the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Children’s Agency said 10 countries accounted for three-quarters of the 128 million doses of vaccine administered in the world in the middle of last week. Nearly 130 countries with a total population of 2.5 billion had yet to vaccinate anyone, they said.
“This self-defeating strategy will cost lives and livelihoods, give the virus a new opportunity to mutate and evade vaccines, and undermine the global economic recovery”, Henrietta Fore, Executive Director of Unicef, and Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus , director-general of the WHO, said in a statement.
The couple called on governments that have vaccinated their own health workers and populations most at risk of serious illness to share the supplies. “We need global leadership to scale up vaccine production and achieve vaccine equity,” they said.
Earlier this month, the Tanzanian Minister of Health said the country had “no plan in place to accept Covid-19 vaccines”, saying she was not convinced they had been clinically proven safe. At a press conference, Dorothy Gwajima and health officials drank a concoction of herbs, ginger, garlic and lemons, and inhaled steam, claiming it was a natural way to kill the virus, The Lancet reported.
More than 180 countries have joined the Covax initiative, which is supported by the WHO and international vaccine advocacy groups. Its goal is to form countries into blocs to give them more negotiating power with pharmaceutical companies. Ninety-two low- and middle-income countries will have their vaccines paid for by a donor-funded fund. The UK government has donated £ 548million to the Covax program.
The Christian Aid survey, carried out by Savanta ComRes earlier this month, found that 63% of those polled wanted nations to cooperate to develop an immunization program that did not prioritize developed countries. Just over one in 10 disagreed.
The charity says developing countries are cutting their existing budgets and increasing their debt to buy vaccines for their populations.
Fionna Smyth, Global Policy and Advocacy Manager at Christian Aid, said: “While international efforts to fund vaccines under the World Health Organization’s Covax program have been helpful, Covax vaccines are delayed and are not expected to achieve adequate immunization coverage in the countries where they are issued.
“Our best chance for everyone to stay safe from Covid-19 is to have vaccines, tests and treatments available to everyone. This crisis requires governments and big pharmaceutical companies to urgently stand up, be imaginative and generous, act for the global good, and quickly achieve tangible results. “
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