The number of coronavirus victims is set to double in the face of the unprecedented selfishness shown by the governments of wealthy Western countries in the face of the pandemic
A coalition of 30 NGOs, including the International Rescue Committee, Catholic Relief Services and Save the Children, appealed to US President Joe Biden as US authorities stockpiled millions of doses of COVID-19 vaccine.
News Front has previously reported that wealthy countries, which account for 14% of the world’s population, have stockpiled 53% of all effective vaccines against COVID-19. Most of Pfizer’s vaccine will go to rich countries. Moderna vaccine goes exclusively to wealthy countries. The amount of vaccine purchased by Canada would be enough to vaccinate everyone in the country 5 times. At the same time, 9 out of 10 people in poor countries may never be vaccinated at all.
Against this background, the NGO group is calling on Biden to distribute the surplus US vaccine stockpile through the COVID-19 or COVAX Global Vaccine Access Centre.
“It is estimated that the number of deaths from COVID-19 could be doubled if wealthy countries monopolise the first doses of vaccines instead of ensuring their global distribution”, – the appeal’s authors explained. – “Vaccine hoarding could cost the global economy up to $9.2 trillion. Rich countries would bear half of this cost because of supply chain disruptions and demand-side shocks.”