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Around the world, the introduction of the vaccine has cast a harsh light on income inequality around the world. Rich countries have the lion’s share of vaccinations, while poor countries are scrambling for even a chance to live after the coronavirus, and the Middle East is a microcosm of this global problem, according to CNN.
As the oil-rich Gulf Arab states were among the first in the world to receive a vaccine, war-torn countries like Yemen and Syria have faced vague deadlines and complex distribution plans for supply, although they are among the worst affected countries. by the virus.
In the UAE, which has a population of almost 10 million and has one of the highest GDP per capita rates in the world, it also has one of the highest vaccination rates in the world. More than 2 million citizens have already been vaccinated with the Pfizer and Cinopharm vaccines.
According to the American channel, the Gulf country has already vaccinated more people than the average income Jordan plans to be vaccinated in the first phase of its implementation. Lebanon, which is currently suffering from a financial crisis, has yet to obtain vaccines, and countries in the region that have been devastated by war do not have concrete plans to purchase and distribute vaccines even with the intervention of international organizations to help them.
Arnaud Bernaert, head of global health and health industries at the World Economic Forum (WEF), said the world should not be “naive” about these inequalities.
He stressed that “high-income countries have political and legal credibility, which allows them to organize the fastest possible plans to protect their residents.” Dr Evan Houten, director of the department of infectious diseases at the University of the Arab States of the Gulf, said: “The Arab States of the Gulf have fewer populations, large sums of money and strong health systems, so they are better positioned to start delivering them early, and that’s a fact. ”
Complicated plans
For non-Gulf Arab states plagued by poverty, endemic corruption or conflict, immunization plans are complicated not only by mismanagement, but by a deep lack of trust in political leaders.
For its part, the World Health Organization warned on Monday that the gap between the rich and the poor in access to vaccines was widening, indicating that it still needed $ 26 billion for its mechanism to accelerate the dissemination of tools to fight Covid-19 around the world.
“Nationalism in the field of vaccines could cost the global economy dearly, reaching $ 9.2 trillion,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said, citing a new Chamber of Commerce study international.
“About half of this amount, or $ 4.5 trillion, will be borne by the richest economies,” he added. Ghebreyesus told a press conference that the mechanism “to accelerate access to tools to fight Covid-19” (Act Accelerator) still needs $ 26 billion in 2021.
This mechanism was launched at the end of April 2020 at a ceremony organized by Ghebreyesus, French President Emmanuel Macron, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and it aims to accelerate development and production of diagnostic supplies, treatments and vaccines against the emerging corona virus and to ensure their fair distribution.
Ghebreyesus stressed that “nationalism in the field of vaccines can serve short-term political goals, but the economic interest of each nation in the medium and long term dictates support for equal access to vaccines.” “Until we end the epidemic everywhere, we will not end it,” he added.
“As we speak now, the rich countries are rolling out vaccines, while the least developed countries are watching and waiting. And with each passing day, the gap between the rich and the poor is growing,” he concluded. .
Egypt and Iran
In Lebanon, a ruling elite accused of corruption has drained the country’s resources for decades, culminating in last year’s financial deterioration. The medical system was not spared, but rather collapsed due to the shortage of drugs and the displacement of health workers.
The explosion in the port of Beirut last August, which caused damage to some major hospitals, exacerbated what the country’s president called a “health emergency”. Although the number of cases among the lowest in the region was recorded in the first months of the epidemic, Lebanon now leads the Arab world in terms of the number of cases per million population.
The story is similar in Iraq and Jordan, which are experiencing economic crises, according to health officials. In Iraq, only 1.5 million doses of Pfizer vaccine will be available to its 40 million people.
As for Iran and Egypt, they are the two largest countries in terms of population in the region, with Iran having a population of nearly 85 million and Egypt with over 100 million, this which complicates the distribution of two countries that have suffered economically in recent times. years.
Egypt began vaccinating its population, starting with medical staff, with the Sinopharma vaccine on January 24. The Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization, which co-leads Kovacs, will provide vaccines to 20% of the population, while the Egyptian government said it has signed an agreement to obtain 20 million doses of the Oxford vaccine.
While Iran, which is subject to sanctions imposed by former US President Donald Trump, is the country most affected by the virus in the region. Officials say the country also intends to import nearly 2 million doses from India, Russia and China by the end of the first quarter of 2021. Imported vaccines will only cover 2% of the population. .
Conflict areas
Governments in conflict areas of the region are unable to buy their own vaccines, or even distribute them in areas interspersed with armed factions and competing spheres of political control. And they have to depend almost entirely on international organizations to do this.
In Syria, already on its knees after nearly a decade of civil war, it faces an economic crisis. The Assad regime does not control all the territories, so it will rely on the Kovacs coalition to vaccinate the Syrians.
In war-torn Yemen in the throes of a devastating humanitarian crisis, it appears competing governments in the south and north have only a vague idea of what a vaccine launch will look like.
In Aden, the seat of government backed by Saudi Arabia, Deputy Health Minister Dr Ishraq Al-Subaie said Yemen could receive the first batch of vaccine next March, but the shipment would not would cover only 20% of the country. It’s unclear whether this will include territory controlled by the Houthi rebels, which the previous Trump administration recently classified as terrorists.
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