'Vaccine apartheid' undermining global vaccination campaigns

The roll-out of COVID-19 vaccines, with poor countries far behind, has exposed the moral bankruptcy and structural privilege of Western nations, said an opinion piece published on Sunday by South China Morning Post.

The article argued that the arrival of COVID-19 vaccines has come as a relief for many in the West, but for billions around the world, that same feeling of relief will not come for months, if not years. 

Global organizations have warned controlling the pandemic will take years with the current rate of vaccination. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) said some poor countries may not be able to start vaccination campaigns until 2024.

The opinion said the COVAX Facility, the WHO's initiative to get vaccines to these countries, has only raised only a third of its predicted budget according to some sources. Only 10 countries have administered 75 percent of all vaccinations worldwide, while 130 countries have yet to receive a single dose, according to the UN. G7 countries have secured enough vaccines for each of their citizens to be vaccinated three times over, thereby undermining the COVAX effort.

The vaccine has exposed the moral bankruptcy of rich Western nations, who are poor in action despite being rich in rhetoric, said the opinion.

COVID-19 vaccines are the most recent manifestation of how the West's structural privilege, backed by economic power and relentless desire for dominance, affects today's world and hampers global solutions.

And the opinion also said that the way the world talks about non-Western vaccines shows structural Western privilege and deep-rooted racism.

Winnie Byanyima, currently of UNAids and formerly of Oxfam, has said "we are witness to a vaccine apartheid", where poor countries are unable to purchase vaccines at the same scale and price as rich countries.

The so-called "vaccine diplomacy" saves lives, irrespective of where doses come from. For the needy in poor countries, "diplomacy" is a whole lot better than "apartheid", said the opinion.