Opinion | 240 million reasons rich countries must stop hoarding Covid-19 vaccines

Globally, about 240 million doses purchased by wealthy countries are expected to go unused and expire by next month. Yet, more than a third of the world’s population has yet to receive their first dose

Every vaccine dose has the potential to save a human life

Reading Time:3 minutes

Ugandans queue to receive Pfizer coronavirus vaccines at the Kiswa Health Centre III in the Bugolobi neighborhood of Kampala, Uganda, on February 8. As long as Covid-19 is still spreading somewhere in the world, then it has the chance to mutate. Photo: AP

Published: 3:30am, 16 Feb 2022Updated: 4:19am, 16 Feb 2022

No one is safe until everyone is safe – the World Health Organization’s position on Covid-19 vaccines becomes more relevant every day. As some Western nations offer their populations third jabs over the winter, it is estimated that only 10 per cent of people in low-income countries have received one dose.

Meanwhile, globally, about 240 million doses purchased by wealthy countries are expected to go unused and expire by next month.

The longer the virus is in circulation, the more chance it has to mutate and find a way past the billions of vaccine doses already administered.

Since the start of the pandemic, politics has played too large a role in nations’ response. Politicians boast about the number of vaccine doses they’ve secured, almost as if it’s a competition. This game needs to end and quickly. Vaccines should be donated to the communities that desperately need them.

A woman walks past a Covid-19 vaccination centre in Brent, northwest London, Britain, on January 28. Globally, about 240 million doses purchased by wealthy countries are expected to go unused and expire by next month. Photo: Xinhua

At the G7 summit in June 2021, the United Kingdom promised to donate 100 million vaccine doses to poorer nations by mid-2022. So far, it has managed a miserly 30 million.

Opinion | 240 million reasons rich countries must stop hoarding Covid-19 vaccines

Globally, about 240 million doses purchased by wealthy countries are expected to go unused and expire by next month. Yet, more than a third of the world’s population has yet to receive their first dose Every vaccine dose has the potential to save a human life

Globally, about 240 million doses purchased by wealthy countries are expected to go unused and expire by next month. Yet, more than a third of the world’s population has yet to receive their first dose

Every vaccine dose has the potential to save a human life