Poorer countries must not be pushed to the back of the queue in the scramble for doses
Future historians may possibly see 2016 as when it started. Some may look back to the middle of 2007, when the collapse of a couple of hedge funds linked to sub-prime events would spark the biggest financial crisis since the Great Depression.
In that sense, Covid-19 couldn’t have come at a worse time and the instinct towards nationalism rather than solidarity, or even enlightened self-interest, threatens the search for a solution. It has reinforced the instinct for countries to take care of themselves first, a process that always leaves the poorer countries behind.
So while there is excitement about the potential speed with which a Covid-19 vaccine can be developed, the old question about equitable access will persist.World Health Organisation director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said this week as he urged countries to join a pact, called Covax, that aims to ensure an equitable distribution of more than 2-billion doses by the middle of 2021. So far only about a tenth of the $100bn the WHO says is needed has been raised.
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