Experts Raise Alarm Over Procurement Disparity of Covid-19 Vaccines Under Covax

By Winnie Kamau

Nairobi, Kenya: Scientists and Medics have raised an alarm over the surge of numbers due to the 2nd and 3rd wave of the COVID19 global pandemic that continues to ravage many countries.

This has led to a Global rush to procure the much-anticipated Vaccines through the COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access (COVAX) facility.

A glance at data we obtained reveals the disparity between the high-income countries and the low-income countries in accessing the vaccines.

The data on Procurement of COVID-19 Vaccines in Low Income Countries shows that many of the low-income countries have procured fewer doses and this could be fuelled by their GDP per capita.

From the data, India is one of the countries tasked to manufacture the AstraZeneca India vaccine through their Serum Institute of India (SII) which is an Indian Biotechnology and Pharmaceuticals company.

India has procured the highest number of vaccines globally at 94 million vaccines against a population of 1.38billion people.

Media report shows the COVID-19 surge in India has seen an added 3.62million new coronavirus infections in a day taking the COVID-19 tally of cases to over a 2.37million, while the death count rose to 2.58million with 4,120 daily fatalities, according to the Union Health Ministry bringing to a total of 17.6 million reported Coronavirus cases.

According to the data, we have shown that the global South that is African and South American countries are the major procures of the AstraZeneca India vaccine.

While the high and middle-income countries procured most of their vaccines from the AstraZeneca Oxford vaccine.

We have seen that even though Pfizer has been one of the vaccines that have been trending widely it has not been procured by many countries as a standalone vaccine. Pfizer has not been procured individually but countries have double procured it as an additional vaccine to the AstraZeneca India and AstraZeneca Oxford.

With the current global challenges on the vaccines and their effects in different countries as well as the challenge of getting the second dose, It is yet to be seen how countries will respond.