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ISLAMABAD (Dawn / ANN): It’s finally time to get vaccinated, at least in some places. Just over a week ago, the first person was vaccinated against Covid-19 in the UK.
This week, the United States began vaccinating its own front-line health workers. A great deal of drama surrounded the release; Cable news cameras were there to provide live broadcasts of the vaccine, which is produced by the Pfizer plant in Michigan, and is loaded onto two special refrigerated trucks.
One, a FedEx truck, would head to the western United States, and another, a UPS truck, would head east.
Closer to home, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain began vaccinating their populations with another vaccine.
The vaccine, called Sinopharm, is produced by a Chinese state-owned company, and approval from Arab nations is likely to help the company distribute its vaccine around the world.
Groups like the People’s Vaccine Alliance have been lobbying emphatically for Covid-19 vaccines to be available to all humans. They have also been advocating against patenting the vaccines that have been developed.
Ensuring that there are no patents would mean that developing countries could replicate the most effective vaccines at a lower cost and thus be available to a larger part of the world’s population.
In support of their proposals, the group cites Jonas Salk, the scientist who developed the polio vaccine, who commented that putting a patent on the vaccine would be similar to putting a patent on the sun.
The lawsuits certainly establish how things should be, but that is not how things likely will be. There are already accusations that rich countries hoard the vaccine.
Unsurprisingly, President Donald Trump has insisted that all Americans should get vaccinated first. Other countries may be less open about their plans, but it is known that 96% of the Pfizer vaccine and 100% of the Modern vaccine have already been purchased by rich countries.
Canada has apparently bought enough doses of the vaccine to vaccinate its population five times more.
There are 172 countries participating in the World Health Organization’s Covax initiative, which seeks to make the vaccine available to everyone.
But Covax, despite being highly touted, has only been able to purchase 250 million doses, well below the quantities purchased by some of the richest countries in the world.
In Pakistan, the government has promised that all citizens will receive the vaccine for free. The vaccine is not even expected to be available in the country until April. Where the Pakistani vaccines will come from has not yet been specified. On the bright side, the as yet unknown side effects of the many vaccines in production may be better known.
If Pakistan decides to source the vaccines from China, it would be essential for the government to obtain safety data from the manufacturers.
This can be problematic as the Chinese government, which owns a stake in all Chinese companies, does not have a history of transparency about its methodology and data.
It can provide vaccines at a lower cost for many countries, but exactly how these vaccines work and how effective they are may not be known.
Then there are the credibility issues. Even before Covid-19 hit, Pakistanis had a history of suspicion of vaccines.
After all, they have good reason to be; it was a hepatitis vaccination program that was used by the CIA to obtain DNA from Osama bin Laden’s hidden progeny.
The impact of that event, the propaganda spread by various extremist groups, and the general experience of government incompetence mean that the regular Pakistani cannot help but doubt.
To avoid this, the government must begin to take action immediately. First, it must be clear which vaccine is being purchased and what ongoing safety information is available in relation to trials of that vaccine.
Second, a public health initiative must be launched to build confidence in the vaccine. Third, when the vaccine is finally available, various political leaders must take the vaccine publicly, in front of television cameras.
Neither of these things can happen unless the vaccine you buy is well and thoroughly tested.
The worst way to do this is to buy a vaccine for all the poor masses and then make others available to the rich who can afford better vaccines and are not limited to the cheap public version.
Sadly, if the past is a test, this is precisely how things will proceed.
Thousands of people have died in Pakistan from Covid-19, lives have been forever changed and opportunities have slipped due to the virus.
The extent of the victims of this plague are listed in terms of those who have died, but the living also suffer, not only from the long-standing side effects of this terrible disease, but from its impact on society, the economy and the opportunities.
Of course, there is no vaccine to prevent further losses from these other types, which will have their own lasting impact on the generation coming of age in a world (rightly) terrified of contact, of being close, of reuniting. .
The arrival of vaccines is undoubtedly a hopeful event; less so is the fact that vaccine disbursement will follow the usual global patterns of wealth inequality, diplomatic relations and access to health care in general.
There should not be a rich vaccine and a poor vaccine, but it is very likely that this is exactly what it will be, even when we are told that some vaccine is better than no vaccine. – Dawn / Asia News Network
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