South Africa laments 'few vaccine options' for poor nations as rich nations hoard jabs

As wealthier nations continue to procure millions of COVID-19 jabs to inoculate the population in mass campaigns, and despite World Health Organisation (WHO) advocating for fair and equitable access, South Africa’s Union has asked for ‘People’s vaccine’ for supply to the poor nations amid the staggering global demand and limited supply.

As the cases of the new variant of coronavirus surge across the African continent, South Africa’s presidency has lamented the ‘few’ options that the poor African nations were left with to purchase the vaccines. According to Bloomberg, Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE have offered the deal to ship 50 million vials in first batches to Africa at the end of 2021. The US-based pharma company had stated it can only begin supply in March. 

Moderna Inc refused to ship the vaccines to the African continent due to a surge in demand in the western countries and limited manufacturing units with patents. Similarly, Oxford’s manufactured AstraZeneca vaccine refused to take the orders for the African countries until the 3rd quarter of 2021. This left the African Union with an option to negotiate with the Serum Institute of India Ltd to procure the jabs.

South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa, the chairman of the African Union had earlier pushed for World Trade Organization WTO to temporarily suspend intellectual property rights so that the COVID-19 vaccines reach the African nations. However, the high-income countries (HICs) have been able to purchase advanced dosages, leaving poor African nations behind, devastated by the health crisis. Many low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs) in the continent have managed to procure enough doses that can only vaccinate 10 percent of the total African population. 

Read: Near 1 Million Virus Cases, South Africa Weighs Restrictions

Read: UK PM Boris Johnson Vows To Stop Government Funding For Fossil Fuel Projects Overseas

Vaccine 'Inaccessible' due to high cost

As Africa enters talks with Johnson & Johnson for procurement of the vaccines, the presidency complained about Pfizer’s enormously high costs that made the product inaccessible to the poor nations. Despite the clinical trials held across African nations for Johnson & Johnson’s potential vaccine, President Cyril Ramaphosa told sources of Bloomberg that it remains unclear whether the company will negotiate the price that is affordable to Africa so that the population can be vaccinated to curb the ravaging impact of the pandemic. However, the global race to a vaccine makes it difficult for the African nations to get hands-on with the supply as the richer nations vouch for quick access to the vaccine. 

Under Operation Warp Speed (OWS), the US is looking to procure another 300 million doses of the vaccines in January 2021. Additionally, the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced $456 million funding for Johnson & Johnson’s and $483 million for Modern to fast track the emergency authorization from FDA and procure the doses for its population. 

Read: Britons Flying Home To Spain Caught In Post-Brexit Red Tape

Read: COVID-19 Vaccine: WHO Backs India & South Africa’s Bid To Ease Intellectual Property Rules