Global Solidarity Amidst Crisis

  In the face of crisis, we protect our own. But is protecting this own above all else the best way for the world’s leading nations to deal with the pandemic? When vaccines against COVID19 first arrived, the U.S. was at the peak of the pandemic. There was a rush to vaccinate health care workers, then those most at risk, and efforts have now turned to vaccinating teachers. Amazingly, nearly a third of the American population has already been vaccinated (NPR) and similar rates are being reached in other wealthy countries. But according to a joint statement made by WHO and UNICEF directors in mid-February, almost 130 countries around the world had yet to administer a single dose -- not even to healthcare workers. What’s more, the statement says that “of the 128 million vaccine doses administered so far, more than three quarters of those vaccinated are in just 10 countries that account for 60% of global GDP.” From this, it seems clear that people in wealthy nations are getting vaccinated while people in poorer countries, even those countries’ health care workers, are not. 

        This is a tough issue to wrangle, let’s look at America as a case study. On the one hand, Americans are still dying from the virus and the number of new daily cases in the U.S. hovers around 64,000 (Google, accessed 3/9), a number that is not at all insignificant; on the other hand, keeping much of the world’s vaccine supply to themselves is unethical and could eventually backfire, putting Americans at great risk once again. This risk that’s run by hoarding vaccines in wealthy nations is that poor countries are left vulnerable to the virus, enabling the virus to replicate and mutate within those populations. Much like how influenza replicates and mutates in the Southern hemisphere to re-infect the northern hemisphere come winter and vice versa, COVID could mutate to the point where it is no longer susceptible to the vaccine that wealthy nations are currently reluctant to share. 

       Then there’s the ethical challenge -- Some of my peers who are teaching assistants for classes are getting vaccinated because they fall into the category of “educators”. And while I respect them for their work (teaching to a bunch of faceless names in boxes over Zoom is no small task) the reality is that they will be fulfilling all their responsibilities virtually from their homes or dorm rooms without much risk of becoming ill. In contrast, health care workers in poorer countries must continue to attend their jobs in person, putting themselves at great risk of becoming ill to help those who already are ill. Vaccines are much more likely to mean the difference between life and death for these health care workers than for my peers tucked away in their bedrooms. 

        It is notable that Biden and other world leaders have committed financial resources to improving COVID vaccine access in the global south. But this funding can’t bring vaccines to poor countries if the entire vaccine supply has been effectively committed to these same wealthy nations. It would be much more effective for the U.S. and the U.K. (some of the nations poised to receive enough vaccines to immunize their country’s populations several times over) donated doses instead of dollars. In the present, the choice of these nations to reserve vaccines for their own people makes sense while the high incidence of COVID cases remains high. But once incidence decreases, even if it means younger groups will have to wait longer for the day they get their shot, wealthy nations ought to show solidarity with the rest of the world by donating excess vaccines to other countries. This is both the compassionate and smart thing to do.

- Renata 

References 

Wired Magazine: The Pandemic Can’t End While Wealthy Nations Hoard Shots (3/9)

BBC News: Covid vaccines: G7 increase support for Covax scheme (2/19)

WHO: In the COVID-19 vaccine race, we either win together or lose together (2/10)