{"id":302882,"date":"2021-07-19T22:44:01","date_gmt":"2021-07-19T19:44:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/inside-the-cutthroat-race-to-secure-doses-2\/"},"modified":"2021-07-19T22:44:01","modified_gmt":"2021-07-19T19:44:01","slug":"inside-the-cutthroat-race-to-secure-doses-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/inside-the-cutthroat-race-to-secure-doses-2\/","title":{"rendered":"#Inside the cutthroat race to secure doses"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;<strong>#Inside the cutthroat race to secure doses<\/strong>&#8221;<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>PARIS \u2014 No one disputes that the world is unfair. But no one expected a vaccine gap between the global rich and poor that was this bad, this far into the pandemic.<\/p>\n<p>Inequity is everywhere: Inoculations go begging in the United States while Haiti, a short plane ride away, received its first delivery July 15 after months of promises \u2014 500,000 doses for a population over 11 million. Canada has procured more than 10 doses for every resident; Sierra Leone\u2019s vaccination rate just cracked 1 percent on June 20.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s like a famine in which \u201cthe richest guys grab the baker,\u201d said Strive Masiyiwa, the African Union\u2019s envoy for vaccine acquisition.<\/p>\n<p>In fact, European and American officials deeply involved in bankrolling and distributing the vaccines against coronavirus have told The Associated Press there was no thought of how to handle the situation globally. Instead, they jostled for their own domestic use.<\/p>\n<p>But there are more specific reasons why vaccines\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/coronavirus-pandemic-government-and-politics-health-1f85aaff6cddeac2be6aa50b40003d76\">have and have not\u00a0<\/a>reached the haves and have-nots.<\/p>\n<p>COVID-19 unexpectedly devastated wealthy countries first \u2014 and some of them were among the few places that make the vaccines. Export restrictions kept the doses within their borders.<\/p>\n<p>There was a global purchase plan to provide vaccines for poorer countries, but it was so flawed and underfunded that it couldn\u2019t compete in the cutthroat competition to buy. Intellectual property rights vied with global public health for priority. Rich countries expanded vaccinations to\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/united-nations-coronavirus-pandemic-health-a5512054e888ee0135c5afa4a8187d96\">younger and younger<\/a>\u00a0people, ignored the\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/united-nations-coronavirus-pandemic-coronavirus-vaccine-geneva-5670593f4f3fd55113a9dea64b4bdc9d\">repeated pleas<\/a>\u00a0of health officials to\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/europe-business-health-government-and-politics-coronavirus-pandemic-02b1157d4f0def0460c9c4548f1c7679\">donate\u00a0<\/a>their doses instead and debated\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/joe-biden-health-government-and-politics-coronavirus-pandemic-coronavirus-vaccine-dc8479e7ac9b2441c4a7eb5ef50923a9\">booster shots \u2013<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 even as poor countries couldn\u2019t vaccinate the most susceptible.<\/p>\n<p>The disparity was in some ways inevitable; wealthy nations expected a return on their investment of taxpayer money. But the scale of the inequity, the stockpiling of unused vaccines, the lack of a viable global plan to solve a global problem has shocked health officials, though it wasn\u2019t the first time.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis was a\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/covid19africawatch.org\/strive-masiyiwa-milken-institute-future-of-health-covax-vaccines-africa\/\" class=\"\">deliberate global architecture<\/a>\u00a0of unfairness,\u201d Masiyiwa told a Milkin Institute conference.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe have no access to vaccines either as donations or available for us to purchase. Am I surprised? No, because this is where we were with the HIV pandemic. Eight years after therapeutics were available in the West, we did not receive them and we lost 10 million people.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s simple math,\u201d he said. \u201cWe have no access. We have no vaccine miracle.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1024\" height=\"673\" alt=\"In this Sunday, May 2, 2021 file photo, worshippers pray during a Mass by Sergio Valverde Espinoza, a Catholic priest of the Cristo Rey church who modified a popular song called &quot;Sopa de Caracol,&quot; or Snail Soup in English, to a message calling for the use of face masks and care during the pandemic, in San Jose, Costa Rica.\" class=\"wp-image-18858058 lazyload\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/07\/vaccine-inequity-09.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=300 300w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/07\/vaccine-inequity-09.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=640 640w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/07\/vaccine-inequity-09.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1280 1280w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/07\/vaccine-inequity-09.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1024 1024w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/07\/vaccine-inequity-09.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=2000 2000w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 1024px\"\/><figcaption>In this Sunday, May 2, 2021 file photo, worshippers pray during a Mass by Sergio Valverde Espinoza, a Catholic priest of the Cristo Rey church who modified a popular song called \u201cSopa de Caracol,\u201d or Snail Soup in English, to a message calling for the use of face masks and care during the pandemic, in San Jose, Costa Rica.<\/figcaption><figcaption><span class=\"credit\">AP\/Carlos Gonzalez<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The World Health Organization has duly updated its\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/pandemics-brazil-rio-de-janeiro-animals-forests-5a7dff4d7ad18209edf4e35e62607087\">epidemic playbook<\/a>\u00a0after every outbreak, most recently with Ebola in mind. Then, as often in the decades before, an emerging illness was largely contained to countries lacking robust public health services, with poor sanitation and crowded living conditions and limited <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/trip-and-travel\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"10\" title=\"Trip &amp; Travel\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">travel<\/a> connections.<\/p>\n<p>For years, the WHO assessed countries\u2019 readiness for a flu pandemic: The United States, European countries and even India ranked near the top. The US readiness was 96 percent and Britain at 93 percent.<\/p>\n<p>On Jan. 30, 2020, WHO declared the coronavirus outbreak in China to be a global emergency. It would be months before the word\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/science-pandemics-geneva-coronavirus-pandemic-china-2c173926c95ed3769107c7eaa043fa86\">\u201cpandemic\u201d became official.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>But that same day, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness and Innovations, or CEPI, was planning for the worst. CEPI announced \u201ca call for proven vaccine technologies <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/download-scripts-themes-apps\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"9\" title=\"Download Scripts &amp; Themes &amp; Apps\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">app<\/a>licable for large scale manufacturing,\u201d according to minutes from its scientific advisory group. CEPI said it would be critical \u201cto support the strategy for global access\u201d early in the <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/game\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"7\" title=\"Game\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">game<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>CEPI quickly invested in two promising coronavirus vaccines being developed by Moderna and CureVac.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe said very early on that it would be important to have a platform where all countries could draw vaccines from, where there\u2019s accountability and transparency,\u201d said Christian Happi, a professor at Nigeria\u2019s Redeemer\u2019s University and a member of CEPI\u2019s scientific advisory committee. \u201cBut the whole idea was that we thought rich countries would fund it for the developing world.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Happi said officials never expected the pandemic would strike first and hardest in Europe and the US. Or that their assessment of preparedness in the world\u2019s most advanced economies would prove horrifically optimistic.<\/p>\n<p>Global health experts would soon come to realize that rich countries \u201ccould sign a piece of paper saying they believe in equity, but as soon as the chips are down, they will do whatever they want,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>On March 16, five days after WHO first described COVID-19 as a \u201cpandemic,\u201d the novel mRNA vaccine developed by Moderna was injected into a trial participant for the first time.<\/p>\n<p>By then, the disease was tearing through the elderly populations of Europe and the United States.<\/p>\n<p>Moderna and Pfizer\/BioNTech were the first companies to come out with an mRNA vaccine, devising methods of mass production almost on the fly. Scientists at\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/virus-outbreak-health-ap-top-news-international-news-oxford-fdd8be1fafa10b71d4de0dabbcd74bdf\">Britain\u2019s Oxford University<\/a>\u00a0also came up with a vaccine with a more traditional platform and Bill Gates brokered a deal for them to partner with AstraZeneca, a pharmaceutical company with global reach but no experience in vaccine production.<\/p>\n<p>On April 30, the deal was confirmed: AstraZeneca took sole responsibility for the global production and distribution of the Oxford vaccine and pledged to sell it for \u201ca few dollars a dose.\u201d Over the next few weeks, the US and Britain secured agreements totaling 400 million doses from AstraZeneca.<\/p>\n<p>The race to make and secure vaccines was on and the United States and Britain were leagues in front of the rest of the world \u2014 a lead they wouldn\u2019t lose. Still, both countries would see\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/us-life-expectancy-huge-decline-f4caaf4555563d09e927f1798136a869\">life expectancy decline\u00a0<\/a>by at least a year in 2020, the biggest drop since World War II. In the European Union, 22 countries saw their average lifespans cut short, with Italy leading the list.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1024\" height=\"682\" alt=\"In this Tuesday, July 6, 2021 file photo, a man with a cough but who had not been tested for the coronavirus uses &quot;COVIDEX,&quot; a locally-made herbal medicine approved by the government for use as a supportive treatment for viral infections, in Kampala, Uganda.\" class=\"wp-image-18858072 lazyload\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/07\/vaccine-inequity-02.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=300 300w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/07\/vaccine-inequity-02.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=640 640w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/07\/vaccine-inequity-02.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1280 1280w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/07\/vaccine-inequity-02.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1024 1024w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/07\/vaccine-inequity-02.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=2000 2000w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 1024px\"\/><figcaption>In this Tuesday, July 6, 2021 file photo, a man with a cough but who had not been tested for the coronavirus uses \u201cCOVIDEX,\u201d a locally-made herbal medicine approved by the government for use as a supportive treatment for viral infections, in Kampala, Uganda.<\/figcaption><figcaption><span class=\"credit\">AP\/Nicholas Bamulanzeki<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>But as grim as the situation was, all those countries had a major advantage: They were home to the pharmaceutical companies with the most promising vaccine candidates, the world\u2019s most advanced production facilities and the money to fund both.<\/p>\n<p>On May 15, 2020, President Donald Trump announced Operation Warp Speed and promised to deliver vaccines against coronavirus by New Year\u2019s. With\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/us-news-pandemics-world-war-ii-coronavirus-pandemic-economy-ca4d27105a7a897a737421eda8464c78\">unparalleled money and ambition<\/a>\u00a0behind the project, Warp Speed head Moncef Slaoui was more confident than his counterparts in Europe that a vaccine was in the offing. He signed contracts almost without regard to price or conditions.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe were frankly focused on getting this\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/feds-pfizer-coronavirus-vaccine-doses-bb5cb23e49aa72ba9cf11b80f1c40b05\">as fast as humanly possible<\/a>. If I had to redo it, I probably should have voiced more of a global dimension,\u201d said Slaoui. \u201cThe operation had focused, which was frankly also part of its success, on staying out of the politics and making the vaccines.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The idea of including clauses to ensure that vaccines would go to anyone besides Americans wasn\u2019t even considered.<\/p>\n<p>At the same time, the US repeatedly invoked the\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/donald-trump-2019-2020-coronavirus-pandemic-coronavirus-pandemic-health-business-bbb0f14dd5032760657c563565ecfe06\">Defense Production Act<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 18 times under the Trump Administration and at least once under Biden. The moves barred exports of crucial raw materials as factories were ramping up production of the as-yet-unapproved vaccines \u2014 and eventually, of the vaccines themselves.<\/p>\n<p>But it also meant those materials would run low in much of the rest of the world. The US stranglehold would lift only in spring 2021 and only partially.<\/p>\n<p>Operation Warp Speed supercharged the global race to secure vaccines, but it would still take another two weeks until COVAX \u2014 the COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access Facility \u2014 was formally announced as the entity to ensure equity, with the Serum Institute of India as\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/pandemics-disease-outbreaks-india-coronavirus-pandemic-dc3468b47853efe1cd2ef7f6c083f43f\">the core supplier<\/a>\u00a0for the developing world.<\/p>\n<p>COVAX had the backing of the World Health Organization, CEPI, vaccines alliance Gavi and the powerful Gates Foundation. What it did not have was cash and without cash it could secure no contracts.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOperation Warp Speed signed the first public deals and that started a chain reaction,\u201d said Gian Gandhi, UNICEF\u2019s COVAX coordinator for supply. \u201cIt was a like a rush on the banks, but to buy up the expected supply.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Some involved in the COVAX project flagged India as a potential problem early on, according to minutes of meetings in late spring and early summer of 2020.<\/p>\n<p>India\u2019s government had blocked\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/us-news-ap-top-news-wa-state-wire-sd-state-wire-virus-outbreak-6d9382c1e8ee36f9ed1a4dfe7815ceb1\">exports of protective gear<\/a>, but many global health authorities who hadn\u2019t fully grasped the extent of pandemic nationalism found it unimaginable that the country would block vaccines when the world was counting on them. Also, India had so far been spared the waves of death that were sweeping across Europe and the Americas.<\/p>\n<p>A separate plan put forward by the government of Costa Rica and the World Health Organization to create a <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/technology\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"4\" title=\"Technology\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">technology<\/a>-sharing platform to expand vaccine production foundered. Not a single company agreed to share its blueprints, even for a fee \u2014 and no government pushed them behind the scenes, according to multiple people involved in the project.<\/p>\n<p>On the global scale, the one organization that could have pushed for more technology sharing was the Gates Foundation, whose money to WHO nearly matches that of the US government.<\/p>\n<p>Instead, Bill Gates defended stringent intellectual property rights as the best way to speed innovation. His foundation poured money and influence into the Access to COVID-19 Tools Accelerator, which also failed to generate the money or influence needed to ramp up production outside already existing hubs.<\/p>\n<p>In the United States, meanwhile, manufacturing and the trials went on in parallel, which is where taxpayers and the companies took enormous risks that paid off for both.<\/p>\n<p>But in retrospect, Slaoui said, given the sheer amount of taxpayer money involved, each time they signed new contracts the US and other countries could have pushed companies harder to share their knowledge, if only for the duration of the pandemic.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFrom a geopolitical standpoint, it\u2019s critical that they do that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Nowhere was the situation more\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/africa-south-africa-coronavirus-pandemic-uganda-7a412e867698316a66e61d13e91db369\">dire than Africa<\/a>. In February, WHO\u2019s African expert in vaccine development, Richard Mihigo, was among many who said the continent\u2019s experience with other pandemics had uniquely prepared it for a complex vaccine deployment.<\/p>\n<p>Five months later, contemplating the plight of a continent that gets 99 percent of its vaccines from abroad, Mihigo adds a rueful footnote: \u201cOne of the lessons we learned from this pandemic is how badly prepared we were in vaccine production in the region and how dependent we were on imports.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Those imports have only barely begun to materialize \u2014 and they are insufficient to meet even the limited goals of the COVAX initiative to vaccinate at least 20 percent of the population of 92 low- and middle-income countries by the end of this year.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1024\" height=\"682\" alt=\"In this Sunday, June 27, 2021 file photo, people receive a dose of the COVID-19 vaccine at a mass vaccination clinic at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto. \" class=\"wp-image-18858090 lazyload\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/07\/vaccine-inequity-10.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=300 300w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/07\/vaccine-inequity-10.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=640 640w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/07\/vaccine-inequity-10.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1280 1280w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/07\/vaccine-inequity-10.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1024 1024w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/07\/vaccine-inequity-10.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=2000 2000w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 1024px\"\/><figcaption>In this Sunday, June 27, 2021 file photo, people receive a dose of the COVID-19 vaccine at a mass vaccination clinic at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto. <\/figcaption><figcaption><span class=\"credit\">Cole Burston\/The Canadian Press via AP<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>From the start, the coalition of\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/africa-europe-coronavirus-pandemic-health-business-926c80134a8543efef16e2c7ca4d43c2\">organizations that created COVAX<\/a>\u00a0found themselves fighting the last war.<\/p>\n<p>The plan was designed as an international pool to spur demand for vaccines and treatment of diseases with a relatively small global footprint, said Winnie Byanyima, head of UNAIDS.<\/p>\n<p>Something like Ebola. But the coronavirus pandemic looked nothing like an Ebola outbreak.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat itself was a\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/international-news-lifestyle-business-science-virus-outbreak-6656cba6143eb097da3dc7c8b360bfa4\">structural weakness<\/a>,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>Although the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund had between them set aside billions for vaccinating the developing world, that money was intended to go to countries and was out of bounds for a global vaccine sharing plan like COVAX, said Mike Muldoon, managing director for innovative finance at the Rockefeller Foundation.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, governments competed to secure contracts for vaccines by the hundreds of millions.<\/p>\n<p>On Dec. 8, Britain became the first country to formally authorize a start to widespread vaccinations, injecting\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/uk-gives-first-covid-19-vaccine-doses-719288c35d8ef8815b56b1c9c5fff24c\">90-year-old Margaret Keenan<\/a>\u00a0with a dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. Six days later, the United States started its own vaccinations. And on Dec. 26, the EU followed suit. China and Russia had been vaccinating even before releasing data from their homegrown inoculations.<\/p>\n<p>The Western companies with the most promising doses, including Pfizer\/BioNTech, Moderna and AstraZeneca, had by then been churning out vials for months before formal approval, based on pledges from the wealthy countries that an enormous market awaited. Those doses were stockpiled in Europe and North America and a small number of countries,\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/israel-immunizations-coronavirus-pandemic-west-bank-5d18f75cbce3fa8df5c8b885599d81b4\">like Israel<\/a>, that paid a premium.<\/p>\n<p>COVAX pleaded for cash to do the same. Instead, it got pledges.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs time passed and it became clear which vaccine candidates were going to be the leading contenders and which were most likely to succeed, the governments that had resources went and bought the supplies,\u201d CEPI chief executive Dr. Richard Hatchett told the AP. \u201cCOVAX was not in a position to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Months later, when COVAX finally had the money to sign deals for global supplies, Hatchett acknowledged they were at the end of the line.<\/p>\n<p>The lack of capital available to vaccine makers to boost their capacity outside the small number of existing manufacturing hubs was also \u201ca lost opportunity,\u201d Hatchett said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe approached the international financing institutions, including the World Bank and the (International Finance Corporation) about making those investments and they were not willing to do that,\u201d he said. CEPI ended up investing about $1.5 billion, far less than what a major financial institution might have been able to commit.<\/p>\n<p>COVAX missed its own goal of beginning vaccinations in poor countries at the same time as rich ones. It finally delivered vaccines on Feb. 24, to Ghana, a load of 600,000 AstraZeneca doses manufactured by the Serum Institute of India and transported by UNICEF planes.<\/p>\n<p>By that date, 27 percent of the population in Britain had been vaccinated, 13 percent in the US, 5 percent in Europe \u2014 and 0.23 percent in Africa, in countries that had secured their own bilateral deals after growing impatient with COVAX delays. The rift was growing by millions of doses every day.<\/p>\n<p>And pharmaceutical plants were beginning to crumble under the promises they\u2019d made.<\/p>\n<p>AstraZeneca announced\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/europe-business-coronavirus-pandemic-coronavirus-vaccine-health-5795b97a28e5bac9258631be4201e98c\">repeated delivery cuts<\/a>\u00a0to Europe. Pfizer\u2019s production briefly slowed. A fire at a Serum Institute construction site prompted a letter to Brazil warning that \u201csupply to you cannot be guaranteed in the foreseeable months.\u201d Moderna supply cuts soon followed to Britain and Canada.<\/p>\n<p>In the United States, officials tossed millions of\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/virus-vaccine-johnson-and-johnson-emergent-biosolutions-d9edd171f8013e17c0be8b13a6db7fed\">corrupted doses of vaccine<\/a>\u00a0from the Emergent Biosolutions plant in Baltimore after discovering that workers had inadvertently blended ingredients from the AstraZeneca and Johnson &amp; Johnson vaccines. An untold number of doses were never produced because of new restrictions meant to prevent errors. Many of those vaccines were intended for export.<\/p>\n<p>So COVAX had to hope that the AstraZeneca vaccine being produced in India would come through, because it had secured few of the innovative mRNA doses that are now considered the most effective against the\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/europe-coronavirus-vaccine-health-coronavirus-pandemic-lifestyle-f7a991223769d8c98d3fc1d03968f560\">coronavirus variants<\/a>. The initial refrigeration requirements were daunting and the price was higher than the traditional vaccine candidates.<\/p>\n<p>The mRNA vaccines are widely considered a scientific and manufacturing triumph \u2014 and a risky bet. Never before approved for use against any disease, they are now considered a hugely promising medical innovation and a potential gamechanger against infection.<\/p>\n<p>But by the time it was clear the mRNA doses were a\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/coronavirus-pandemic-government-and-politics-health-1f85aaff6cddeac2be6aa50b40003d76\">viable alternative<\/a>, even in poor countries with limited cold chain, the available supply had been snapped up in Europe, the United States and Canada. And India, in the throes of its own COVID-19 surge,\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/ap-top-news-global-trade-immunizations-india-coronavirus-pandemic-c0c881c0f07166e8fd494e078171a7cc\">diverted its vaccines<\/a>\u00a0for its own use.<\/p>\n<p>According to the People\u2019s Vaccine Alliance, a grouping of human rights organizations advocating for broader sharing of vaccines and their underlying technology, the coronavirus has created nine new billionaires. The top six are linked to the successful mRNA vaccines.<\/p>\n<p>For Byanyima, of UNAIDS, this is a travesty and a sign that the world has learned little in the decades since the AIDS pandemic was brought under control in the United States, only to kill millions in Africa because treatments were unaffordable: \u201cMedicines should be a global public good, not just like a luxury handbag you buy on the market.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>COVAX has delivered only\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/app.powerbi.com\/view?r=eyJrIjoiNmE0YjZiNzUtZjk2OS00ZTg4LThlMzMtNTRhNzE0NzA4YmZlIiwidCI6Ijc3NDEwMTk1LTE0ZTEtNGZiOC05MDRiLWFiMTg5MjAyMzY2NyIsImMiOjh9&amp;pageName=ReportSectiona329b3eafd86059a947b\">107 million doses<\/a> and now is forced to rely upon uncertain donations from countries that may prefer to donate directly to the needy, so they can receive the credit.<\/p>\n<p>A readout from its June board meeting slipped in an acknowledgement that it needed to better interpret and respond to market conditions and \u201cthe reality that a higher risk appetite is needed in a pandemic setting.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1024\" height=\"653\" alt=\"In this June 5, 2021, file photo, a hospital employee wearing protective gear transports oxygen tanks in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. In Haiti, hospitals turned away patients as the country awaits its first shipment of vaccines. \" class=\"wp-image-18858121 lazyload\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/07\/vaccine-inequity-06.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=300 300w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/07\/vaccine-inequity-06.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=640 640w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/07\/vaccine-inequity-06.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1280 1280w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/07\/vaccine-inequity-06.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1024 1024w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/07\/vaccine-inequity-06.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=2000 2000w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 1024px\"\/><figcaption>In this June 5, 2021, file photo, a hospital employee wearing protective gear transports oxygen tanks in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. In Haiti, hospitals turned away patients as the country awaits its first shipment of vaccines. <\/figcaption><figcaption><span class=\"credit\">AP\/Joseph Odelyn<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>For the pharmaceutical industry, mRNA is the ultimate confirmation that\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/years-research-groundwork-covid-19-shots-f204192f07cfcc3503dc9c7687ae6269\">hard work and risk-taking\u00a0<\/a>is rewarded. And those companies keep tight hold on the keys to their successful vaccines.<\/p>\n<p>When Moderna and Pfizer created new production lines, it was in the insular European and American manufacturing networks that had as much stake as anyone in both ensuring that the injections meet the highest standards and keeping promises not to abuse intellectual property.<\/p>\n<p>Many public health officials have pushed for\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/united-nations-south-africa-africa-technology-coronavirus-vaccine-3cbdee395502802b55db2b5c81e6becd\">technology transfer\u00a0<\/a>during the pandemic. Initially resistant, the Gates Foundation has changed its position in favor of sharing.<\/p>\n<p>Dr. Clemence Auer, the EU\u2019s lead negotiator for vaccine contracts last summer, said the question of compelling pharmaceutical companies to suspend their vaccine intellectual property rights to increase the worldwide supply of coronavirus vaccines never even came up.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe had a mandate to buy vaccines, not to talk about\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/drug-companies-called-share-vaccine-info-22d92afbc3ea9ed519be007f8887bcf6\">intellectual property,<\/a>\u00a0\u201d Auer said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe global community should have had this discussion back in 2020 but that didn\u2019t happen,\u201d he said. \u201cMaybe we should have done it last year, but now it\u2019s too late. It is spilled milk.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>CEPI includes equity clauses in the vaccines that it invests in, among them the successful Moderna candidate, but has yet to invoke them during the pandemic. Some include requirements to make a vaccine available to populations in need at affordable prices, as is the case in CEPI\u2019s Moderna contract. But Moderna was first available exclusively in wealthy countries and even now only limited amounts are going outside Europe and the United States.<\/p>\n<p>A separate push to lift intellectual property restrictions on vaccines and medicines has also gone nowhere in the World Trade Organization.<\/p>\n<p>And WHO is reticent to criticize donor nations or the pharmaceutical companies. The U.N. health agency works by consensus and needs them for other aspects of global health \u2014 and for its own continued existence. The Biden administration has\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/us-who-support-006ed181e016afa55d4cea30af236227\">reversed Trump\u2019s decision<\/a>\u00a0to defund and leave WHO, but the damage has been done.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cA lot of these multinational organizations, these plans, these coalitions, they don\u2019t have teeth to enforce what they think is a fair and equitable way to distribute resources,\u201d said Dr. Ingrid Katz, an infectious disease researcher at the Center for Global Health at Massachusetts <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/general\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"3\" title=\"General\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">General<\/a> Hospital. She said the key question is whether vaccines and essential medications are a commodity or a right.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf it\u2019s going to be a commodity, we\u2019re going to keep walking down this road every time we have something like this,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>And if it is all going to rely on the generosity of rich countries, a lot of people are going to die.\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/joe-biden-peru-europe-coronavirus-pandemic-health-3da770e3dfbeaf8738c0e68643a2994b\">Four million\u00a0<\/a>have died already.<\/p>\n<p>In all, at the recent Group of Seven meeting of wealthy nations pledged to donate 850 million doses, compared with the 11 billion that WHO says will be needed to end the pandemic.<\/p>\n<p>A close look at the G-7 promises of donations shows that most aren\u2019t expected to be delivered until well into 2022. The Biden administration fell short on its pledge to send 80 million doses abroad by the end of June: By mid-July, at least 44 million doses had been sent, including 2.5 million to Canada, which has already given at least one vaccine dose to more of its population than any other country. Africa has yet to receive its doses from the United States.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1024\" height=\"682\" alt=\"In this Saturday, May 15, 2021 file photo, empty vials of the Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna and AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines lie in a box during a vaccine campaign at the Vaccine Village in Ebersberg near Munich, Germany.\" class=\"wp-image-18858137 lazyload\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/07\/vaccine-inequity-12.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=300 300w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/07\/vaccine-inequity-12.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=640 640w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/07\/vaccine-inequity-12.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1280 1280w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/07\/vaccine-inequity-12.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1024 1024w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/07\/vaccine-inequity-12.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=2000 2000w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 1024px\"\/><figcaption>In this Saturday, May 15, 2021 file photo, empty vials of the Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna and AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines lie in a box during a vaccine campaign at the Vaccine Village in Ebersberg near Munich, Germany.<\/figcaption><figcaption><span class=\"credit\">AP\/Matthias Schrader<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Oceans away from the\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/africa-coronavirus-pandemic-health-666ee34c3587164f76a0bd1262572aea\">deprivation of the developing world<\/a>, 7-year-old Russell Bright and his 5-year-old brother went to Ochsner Medical Center in New Orleans to get their shots \u2014 part of a trial for young children. Maybe they got the vaccine; maybe they got the placebo.<\/p>\n<p>Wearing a Spider-Man mask, Russell said he longs for a vacation trip to the water park and then a return to school without having to wear masks and stay at arms\u2019 length from his friends.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBoth me and my wife are already vaccinated,\u201d said his father, Adam, \u201cand so the sooner I can get them vaccinated and to feel comfortable being outside, not having to wear a mask, I thought the easiest way to get it is to go through the trial.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Scientists agree that children are at low risk from COVID-19. But that hasn\u2019t stopped richer countries from stockpiling precious vaccine supplies to inoculate the young, even as poor countries have few or no shots to give.<\/p>\n<p>A recent meeting of WHO\u2019s vaccine allocation group disbanded with nothing accomplished, because there was no vaccine to allocate. \u201cZero doses of AstraZeneca vaccine, zero doses of Pfizer vaccine, zero doses of J&amp;J vaccine,\u201d said Dr. Bruce Aylward, a senior advisor at the organization.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEvery single one of our suppliers is unable to supply during this period because others are making demands on those products, others who are vaccinating very young populations that are not at risk,\u201d Aylward said.<\/p>\n<p>Both Trump and Biden administration officials reject the notion that the US or any country would share vaccines\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/joe-biden-coronavirus-pandemic-coronavirus-vaccine-af8beed9fbeb4a84a425e695423a3e77\">until they\u2019d protected their own<\/a>. And they both note that the US bore the brunt of the pandemic last year, topping the world in confirmed cases and deaths.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe had a responsibility to what I say, \u2018put on our own oxygen masks\u202fbefore\u202fhelping\u202fothers,\u2019\u201d CDC Director Rachelle Walensky said in May.<\/p>\n<p>But a plummeting jet takes all passengers with it, whether or not they are wearing masks. And the failure to provide vaccines across the globe ensures that\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/united-nations-africa-coronavirus-pandemic-health-4237d161808f6d38da25e6fa424b81f8\">COVID-19 will continue to spread<\/a> and mutate and sicken and kill.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt speaks volumes about where we are as a globe when you have the source of decision-making sitting with very few people who have a lot of wealth and are essentially making\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/coronavirus-vaccine-coronavirus-pandemic-business-health-government-and-politics-f920bf3b59940da33cad9eb64285bb66\">life and death<\/a>\u00a0decisions for the rest of the globe,\u201d Mass General\u2019s Katz said. \u201cEvery month that we lost put us further and further behind.\u201d\n            <\/div>\n<blockquote><p><strong><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">If you liked the article, do not forget to share it with your friends. Follow us on\u00a0<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><a style=\"color: #ff0000;\" href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/publications\/CAAqBwgKMLG0nwswvr63Aw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Google News<\/a><\/span>\u00a0too, click on the star and choose us from your favorites.<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">For forums sites go to <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/forum.buradabiliyorum.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Forum.BuradaBiliyorum.Com<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>If you want to read more <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/news\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"2\" title=\"News\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">News<\/a> articles, you can visit our <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/news\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">News category.<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"color: black;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2021\/07\/19\/vaccine-inequity-inside-the-cutthroat-race-to-secure-doses\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;#Inside the cutthroat race to secure doses&#8221; PARIS \u2014 No one disputes that the world is unfair. But no one expected a vaccine gap between the global rich and poor that was this bad, this far into the pandemic. Inequity is everywhere: Inoculations go begging in the United States while Haiti, a short plane ride&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":302883,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/07\/vaccine-inequity-04.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=1200","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[70897],"tags":[112185,1545,82862,71291,71041,74139],"class_list":["post-302882","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-7-19-21","tag-coronavirus","tag-covid-vaccine","tag-inequality","tag-vaccines","tag-world-health-organization"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/302882","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=302882"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/302882\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/302883"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=302882"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=302882"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=302882"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}