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Thursday, 10 December 2020 _The news that people in the United Kingdom are already getting the COVID-19 vaccine has given hope to millions of families across the globe. Families with elderly or vulnerable members are wondering when it will be their turn. According to the People’s Vaccine Alliance, which includes Amnesty International and Oxfam, it might be a while.
The organization says rich countries are hoarding the most-promising vaccines, just as they did during the Swine Flu Pandemic in 2009. Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech have so far sold out. Despite promises of fair distribution.
The European Union, United States, Britain, Canada, Japan, Switzerland, Australia, Hong Kong, Macau, New Zealand, Israel and Kuwait. These countries represent 14 percent of the global population but they have bought more than half the globes supply of vaccines. That means one in 10 people in at least 67 poor countries will not get it unless urgent action is taken.
This contradicts statements made by rich nations at the UN after General-Secretary Antonio Guterres called on them to make vaccines available to all. Experts say this is blatantly hypocritical though. Canada has purchased enough vaccines to immunize its entire population 5 times over. The same goes for the world’s highest per-capita buyer, the United Kingdom.
Meanwhile countries that are subject to US-led sanctions are being prevented from purchasing the vaccine. Iran is one of them. The US has imposed crippling sanctions on its banking sector and its vital oil and gas industry and threatened punitive measures against any country or company that does business with Iran.
The UN is calling for a global ceasefire, debt relief for struggling nations and a lifting of sanctions amid the COVID-19 pandemic, but it seems these calls have so far fallen on deaf ears.
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