Apartheid, a term most commonly used in the context of the anti-Black racial segregation that took place in 20th-century South Africa, is now taking place before our very own eyes, but in a way that some may not expect. “Vaccine apartheid,” a term coined to describe the unequal distribution of COVID-19 vaccines between majority-white Western countries and majority-nonwhite countries in the global South, has denied dozens of nations fair access to COVID-19 vaccines. This article, written by Alexa Mendez, we'll dive into exactly what is vaccine apartheid, how it is taking place, and what Western nations, mainly the US, should do to help stop it. In the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, everyone was going on about unity, about how we’re all in this together, and how we must stay connected even while socially distanced. The media promoted a message of helping each other get through the pandemic, as has been publicly promoted by the current administration. However, as we all know, actions speak louder than words, and the actions of the Biden administration say otherwise. The lack of steps taken to help bring other countries out of the pandemic as America begins to heal demonstrates the unfortunate trend in our current capitalist world: profit over people.
against the COVID-19 pandemic, but the same cannot be said for the world’s poorest nations, who have yet to achieve high numbers of vaccinations. Though these countries are on track to have a majority of the population vaccinated by late 2021, along with other developed countries by mid-2022 and most middle income countries by the end of 2022, the world’s 84 poorest countries will not be able to achieve this until at least the end of 2023/early 2024. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the World Health Organization (WHO) director-general stated that the unequal distribution of vaccines is a “catastrophic moral failure.” [3]. Ghebreyesus has also proclaimed that the world is no longer at risk for vaccine apartheid, because it is already currently taking place [1]. One particularly significant case is India, where the new, highly transmissible B.1.617 Coronavirus variant is expected to grow faster than India can vaccinate its people. Instead of administering vaccines to the people, Indian healthcare workers are now forced to shift their priorities to caring for patients hospitalized with the new variant, thus effectively slowing down the vaccination rate in India. Even though the existing COVID vaccines aren’t guaranteed to work against the new variant, a vaccine is always better than no vaccine; existing vaccines will still slow down the COVID death rate even if they can’t combat B.1.617. [1]. The issue at hand is one of morality and global wellbeing. Though many articles make the argument that vaccines must be globally distributed to ensure the global economy, the loss of human life should be regarded as enough. Many countries, particularly the United States, actually have too many vaccines that aren’t being used and thus should be given to other countries. Oxfam Health Policy Manager Anna Marriott agrees, stating that “this is a public health emergency, not a private profit opportunity.” “We should not be letting corporations decide who lives and who dies while boosting their profits. We need a people’s vaccine, not a profit vaccine,” she adds. “Vaccine apartheid is not a natural phenomenon but the result of governments stepping back and allowing corporations to call the shots.” [2]. As Marriott states, corporations and Western governments are largely to blame for the vaccine apartheid. As Western nations, like the US, vote to keep patents on vaccines, they become less accessible to other nations and instead generate more profit for companies. This is an example of global capitalism at its finest: millions are put in danger for the sake of profit. What the US and other developing nations should be doing is providing vaccines for countries that need it. While despair and distraught are declining in the West, they’re on the rise in the global South, and many developed nations just sit back and watch this happen. Especially when the US has vaccinated 41% of its population [2], and is well on its way to fully reopening, the extra vaccines should be donated to countries in need. Not as a means of boosting the global economy, but as a means to save lives, because that alone should be enough. Works Cited: Frage, Emma, and Michael Shields. “The World Has Entered ‘Vaccine Apartheid,’ WHO Head Says as the US Stockpiles Shots and Nearly a Dozen Nations Have No Supply at All.” Insider, 17 May 2021, www.insider.com/who-world-has-entered-a-stage-of-vaccine-apartheid-2021-5. Massie, Graeme. “‘Vaccine Apartheid’: US Under Fire for Sitting on Stockpile While Developing Nations Face Deadly Shortage.” Yahoo! News, 25 Apr. 2021, news.yahoo.com/vaccine-apartheid-us-under-fire-124223900.html. Safi, Michael. “Most Poor Nations ‘Will Take Until 2024 to Achieve Mass Covid-19 Immunisation.’” The Guardian, 28 Jan. 2021, www.theguardian.com/society/2021/jan/27/most-poor-nations-will-take-until-2024-to-achieve-mass-covid-19-immunisation.
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Welcome to our blog, Medquity!Here we will post extra articles on health disparities to display the profound health inequities in our healthcare system. These are updated every other weekend, so check back regularly! Archives
July 2021
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