Coronavirus: What is vaccine nationalism

NEW DELHI: The countries with more money are striking pre-purchase deals with pharma companies to buy coronavirus vaccine once the trials prove successful. Since, several companies across the world are researching on a Covid-19 vaccine, the wealthier nations have already placed orders worth millions to get their citizens the first shots.

Calling this phenomenon of reserving coronavirus vaccine by several nations as "vaccine nationalism", the World Health Organisation (WHO) tried a last ditch effort on Tuesday to make wealthier nations join the COVAX Global Vaccines Facility before the August 31 deadline, for sharing vaccine candidates with developing countries.

Augmenting WHO Chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus' call, Pope Francis too on Wednesday said that rich countries should not hoard the vaccine and should only give pandemic-related bailouts to companies committed to protecting the environment, helping the most needy and the 'common good'.

"It would be sad if the rich are given priority for the Covid-19 vaccine. It would be sad if the vaccine becomes property of this or that nation if it is not universal and for everyone," Francis said at his weekly general audience.

Right to buy?

Prioritising your own population over global collaboration by securing vaccine shots through pre-purchase agreements with manufacturers is called vaccine nationalism.

As of now, United States, United Kingdom, Japan, and the European Union have spent billions on deals with vaccine candidates such as Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca even though their effectiveness has not been proven yet. Once any of these firms confirm the success of their vaccine candidates, the countries which have pre-purchase agreement will receive the vaccine shots before other countries.

The drawback of vaccine nationalism is that countries with less resources and bargaining power will have to wait longer which will result in their populations continuing to stay vulnerable to Covid-19 even as developed nations will start inoculating their people.

This has happened before during the 2009 H1N1 flu when Australia, the first country to come up with a vaccine, had blocked exports and the US had obtained the right to buy 600,000 doses. Once the H1N1 flu started to recede, the rich nations had started donating the vaccine to the poorer ones.

COVAX Facility a counter to vaccine nationalism?

To ensure global equitable access to a vaccine, WHO in collaboration with the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) and Gavi, launched the COVAX Facility which aims to procure at least two billion doses of Covid-19 vaccines by the end of next year for distribution in low- and middle-income countries.

The US, Britain, European Union and Japan have so far secured about 1.3 billion doses of potential Covid immunizations, according to London-based analytics firm Airfinity, as reported by Bloomberg. This figure could go up to 1.5 billion doses, as per Airfinity.

In a world of around 7.8 billion people, the supply will nonetheless be staggered only to be made more severe for poorer nations with over a billion shots already reserved by the rich. Airfinity also forecasts that once the vaccine is out, worldwide supply may not reach 1 billion doses until the first quarter of 2022.

Which is why investing in production capacity all over the world is seen as key to bridging the gap. The COVAX Facility aims to give governments an opportunity to hedge the risk of backing unsuccessful candidates and give other nations with limited finances access to shots that would be otherwise unaffordable. If governments put their own interests first, it could result in a worse outcome for everyone, allowing the virus to continue to spread, officials have warned.