While the World Health Organization is promoting the idea of a “folk vaccine”, both the United States and the European Union have signed contracts with large pharmaceutical corporations, pushing poor countries out of the market.
About this writes the American edition of Foreign Policy.
In conditions when far from all vaccines will be effective, rich countries differentiate their investments. For example, the United States has ordered billions of doses of vaccines from giants such as Johnson & Johnson, AstraZeneca, and Moderna Inc. Moreover, Washington is creating a shortage of antiviral drugs on the market, buying up medicines to the detriment of other countries.
The EU is not far behind. Germany, France, Italy, and the Netherlands have even set up an inclusive vaccine alliance that coordinates procurement. This approach was criticized by other countries of the community.
The problem with this practice is that even with the advent of the first successful vaccines, drug deficiency will occur over the next 12-18 months. Health experts believe that in order to defeat a pandemic, it is necessary to ensure the most vulnerable populations around the world, but instead, rich countries “hedge their bets” when poor countries do not have the resources to find an effective vaccine among many unsuccessful ones.