The British authorities join the policy of vaccine nationalism of other Western countries, blocking the distribution of life-saving drugs in the world.
Health experts have repeatedly warned that defeating the coronavirus pandemic around the world is only possible with equitable distribution of vaccines. Despite this, only Russia and China are actively sharing drugs against COVID-19 with other countries.
At the same time, the wealthy Western powers, which account for 14% of the world’s population, have acquired 53% of all effective vaccines against COVID-19. Most of Pfizer’s vaccine will go to wealthy countries. The Moderna vaccine is supplied exclusively to rich countries. Moreover, 9 out of 10 residents of poor countries may never get vaccinated at all.
Against this background, the British authorities also preferred to adopt vaccine nationalism. On Tuesday 30 March, UK Business Secretary Quasi Quarteng said London is focusing on vaccinating its citizens. Only then will the British authorities consider exporting vaccines.
“If there are excess doses of the vaccine, we can share them, but at the moment there is no surplus, we still have a huge number [of citizens] who need to be vaccinated”, – the official said.