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WASHINGTON: A group of wealthy nations representing 13% of the world’s population have already purchased more than half of the promised doses of future Covid-19 vaccines, according to an Oxfam report on Wednesday.
The non-governmental organization analyzed agreements reached by vaccine and pharmaceutical producers for the top five vaccine candidates currently in late-stage trials, according to data collected by analytics company Airfinity.
“Access to a life-saving vaccine shouldn’t depend on where you live or how much money you have,” said Robert Silverman of Oxfam America.
“The development and approval of a safe and effective vaccine is critical, but just as important is making sure that vaccines are available and affordable for everyone. Covid-19 anywhere is Covid-19 everywhere. “
The five vaccines tested were from AstraZeneca, Gamaleya / Sputnik, Moderna, Pfizer, and Sinovac.
Oxfam estimated the combined production capacity of these five candidate vaccines at 5.9 billion doses, enough for three billion people, given that the five future vaccines will require or are very likely to require two doses.
So far supply deals have been agreed for 5.3 billion doses, of which 2.7 billion (51%) have been purchased by developed countries, territories and regions, including the US, UK, European Union, Australia, Hong Kong and Macao, Japan and Switzerland. and Israel.
The remaining 2.6 billion doses have been bought or promised to developing countries such as India, Bangladesh, China, Brazil, Indonesia and Mexico, among others.
The nonprofit added that one of the top candidates, developed by Moderna, has received $ 2.5 billion in money from committed taxpayers, but has said it intends to make a profit and has sold the options on its entire offering. to the rich nations.
Oxfam and other organizations are therefore calling for a free “popular vaccine” distributed fairly according to need.
“This will only be possible if pharmaceutical corporations allow vaccines to be produced as widely as possible by freely sharing their patent-free knowledge, rather than protecting their monopolies and selling to the highest bidder,” Oxfam said.
He added that the estimated cost of providing a vaccine for everyone on Earth was less than 1% of the projected cost of Covid-19 to the global economy.
