This article is authored by NOW!'s local team leader in Nairobi, Kenya - Naima Mohamed - and was originally published in Susa Africa . Click here to read the original piece.
Massive global demand and high purchasing power of wealthier nations, leaves Africa and other developing nations behind when it comes to accessing the vaccines. The sad thing is that wealthier nations have been hoarding the vaccines. A good example is Canada that ordered enough vaccines to vaccinate its population 5 times. There exists unfair distribution and purchase of the existing vaccines. We must do everything possible to increase vaccine production for all and put an end to the pandemic. Many countries have been championing and speaking of the unfair distribution of vaccines.
I believe donation or charity by organizations or developed nations won’t be enough and would take long. What we need is for pharmaceutical companies to give local companies licences and technology transfer, so that they can produce the vaccines locally. However, Pfizer did not commit to any suspension of IP rights and proactively opposed WHO’s proposal for a voluntary pool of patents.
Other companies have taken steps to ensure they do their part in ending the pandemic (although not enough), like Oxford AstraZeneca will be selling vaccines to developing nations at a cost price for most of 2021 and not for profit. However, they have been low production which has limited the rate at which the vaccine has rolled out.
This is a critical time, as thousands are contracting COVID -19 and thousands are losing their lives. This is not the time for companies to be withholding the information and licensing rights.
Technology transfer, sharing of licences will enable massive production of the vaccine and on the brighter side companies will still be making profits. This can also be done during certain duration, according to how the companies would like. When companies in developing nations can produce the vaccines, then we won’t be worrying much about fair distribution and massive loss of lives, especially when the solution are right in front of us.
What we need during such a crisis is unity and care. Sharing of licences and technologies shouldn’t be just for this pandemic. Imagine how fast we would have stopped the spread of the pandemic if we were united and we could all produce our own vaccines. Wealthier nations will no longer be hoarding supplies anymore.
There are many campaigns out there carried out to ensure fair distribution and to prevent developed nations from hoarding the vaccines. You can join our campaign at NOW! and be a voice of change.