On Saturday, April 14 the world passed a sad and depressing COVID-19 milestone when it was reported that the global death toll from the disease had surpassed three million. Truth is that the number is likely to be much higher.

Worldwide, the pandemic continues to grow at an increasing rate with hundreds of thousands of our fellow human beings dying daily. As it stands the pandemic is adding yet another layer of global inequality to the pre-existing mix – the vaccinated and the unvaccinated.  And this is happening in full and informed public view.     

According to the John Hopkins University COVID-19 dashboard, there have been more than 142 million cases of the disease since the pandemic began with the official death toll now exceeding 3 million. To date, the worst affected countries include the US, India, Brazil, France, Russia and the UK. Countries across the world struggle to contain the spread and impact of the virus.

In such circumstances, governments have understandably prioritised their own populations but have simultaneously engaged in unnecessary dimensions of vaccine nationalism often at the expense of others. 

The US has now purchased enough vaccines for three times its population. The EU has ordered 1.6 billion doses for its adult population of roughly 375 million while the UK has ordered 219 million full vaccinations for its 54 million adults. Canada has ordered 188 million full vaccinations for its 32 million adults, the list goes on.

In stark contrast, in mid-February some 100 plus countries had yet to administer a single dose of vaccine according to UNICEF.

As coronavirus cases continue to rise worldwide, the risk of vaccine-resistant variants is increasing. Public and private health experts and institutions routinely warn that if we fail to effectively vaccinate the world’s population, the current vaccines could be rendered ineffective and in short order. The obvious need for an urgent international vaccination strategy is glaring.

In the medium and longer term, vaccine passports, travel bubbles and bi-lateral travel and tourism strategies as currently proposed in Europe and elsewhere (including Malta) will be of extremely dubious value.

Some politicians continue to promise a summer and autumn in 2021 that approaches something ‘normal’ and while this is likely to be true, it is only so for a tiny (privileged) minority of the world’s population.

Western leaders have been quick to deflect attention from this reality by referencing their support for immunisation in poorer countries through Covax, the global (and voluntary) vaccine procurement scheme. However, Covax aims to vaccinate at best just 20% of population in recipient countries in 2021. Of nearly 12 billion vaccines secured globally to date, just 3.5 billion relate to Covax and the great majority of the world’s people.

For a variety of reasons, Covax is simply incapable of delivering fast enough to tackle this pandemic effectively. Even with increased funding there are currently not enough doses planned or available for the world’s population.

Central to this constrained production are pharmaceutical companies who have refused to share their vaccine technology and intellectual property rules that prevent countries from creating their own generic vaccine versions. As a result, the public worldwide is restricted to the production and supply chains of such powerful companies. 

Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla talks during a press conference with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. Photo: AFP

In a briefing on April 22, the People’s Vaccine Alliance (a coalition of international organisations and NGOs) noted that just three of the leading COVID vaccine manufacturers have paid out $26 billion in dividends and stock buyouts to shareholders in the last year. This amount is sufficient to cover the cost of vaccinating the population of Africa.

To realise the world’s potential vaccine capacity, more than 100 nations led by India and South Africa are lobbying for the temporary suspension of existing patent rules for the duration of this pandemic. 

But unbelievably and immorally this action has been blocked to date by some powerful blocs and countries including the EU, the UK and the US. 

By blocking a temporary suspension of vaccine patents, they are knowingly and consciously restricting vaccine availability for all. From a public health perspective, this position is reckless as the virus continues to increase. From an ethical perspective, it is unforgiveable. 

As so often today, our obsession with short-term gain and advantage for some threatens the medium and longer-term interests of all.

The danger now is that the vaccinated and unvaccinated worlds become another layer of the ‘haves and have-nots’, or in the words of Uruguayan write Eduardo Galeano the ‘nobodies’ and the ‘somebodies’.

It is to resist this vaccine apartheid and alternatively campaign for a global people’s vaccine that rejects the current power dynamics and their inequitable impact.